Dan "Chip" Kerr has just returned to his hometown only to find that his old, haunting fear has followed him. Dan's brother, Pfc Dennis Kerr, has been MIA in Vietnam since 1973. The Kerr family has been living in their own private worlds of fearful bewilderment at their son's/brother's fate. One sibling has become an anxiety ridden chain smoker, another a relentless over achiever and heavy drinker. The fabric of the once close family has unraveled as they grapple with the unknown.

The family's distress is exacerbated by the matriarch's slow but steady descent into the netherworld of dementia, forcing her husband and children deeper into a crucible of disbelief and denial. Even happy occasions usually devolve into conflict and turmoil amid the uncertainties that swirl around their son/brother's disappearance and their wife's/mother's illness.

The Kerr family must find a way to deal with the ever-present pain of separation and loss to keep from further fragmenting the family.