Arthur Henning arrives at the Duvall's country estate near New York City in the winter of 1946 with his young son, his sewing machine, and the painful history of the refugee--the home in Vienna he left behind, the wife and infant daughter who perished in London's blitz, and the friends who disappeared into the abyss of the Holocaust. Once an expert tailor, Arthur is now employed as a driver. He drives Mr. Duvall to work in the city, Mrs. Duvall to her shopping, their daughter, Aggie, to school. There's a cottage for him and his son, Toby, to live in, congeniality in the mansion's kitchen with the other servants, pleasure in watching Toby grow up alongside charming little Aggie. And so there he has remained for nearly a decade, hidden, unable to confront his shattered faith, his fear, and the measure of everything he has lost. Hidden, that is, until life steps in to release Arthur from his seclusion. On orders from Mr. Duvall, he must drive Aggie to her own confinement in that peculiarly American institution of the 1950s, a home for unwed mothers. The Duvalls' plan to give the baby away shocks Arthur from his emotional slumber--to results that are both unpredictable and inevitable.