For years, Toronto stage actor Norman Bray has renounced all responsibility in the name of his "art." Now, middle-aged, teetering on the edge of financial ruin, and clinging to the faded light of his career, Norman must answer to the bank, to the adult children of his recently deceased common-law wife, and, most of all, to his own illusions about himself. Making matters worse, Amy, his stepdaughter-of-a-sort, discovers her late mother's journals and the unhappiness they contain. Meanwhile, Norman finds himself embroiled in the affairs of an attractive neighbor, with unexpected consequences.