A cold, gray Sunday dawns on New York City to find Paul Metzger trudging through the winter streets to visit his past. He goes first to see his estranged, decades-older half brother; then his dying father, whose notorious early life still haunts his children; and finally the ex-wife he can't help but continue to love. But a fourth encounter--violent, unexpected-sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change Paul's life, as well as the family he's struggled so long to understand.