Richie Rossiter, a crooner and piano man abandones his first wife and son for a young woman who rejuvenates his career, gives him twenty-three years of happy domestic life and three lovely daughters. When he dies suddenly his current wife and daughters cross paths with Richie's other family for the very first time. And the uneasy truce that has held over the years between Richie's past and his present loves breaks down into open animosities, fanned by certain bequests he has made and certain secret loyalties he has kept.