Staring into seemingly hopeless futures, half-siblings Carl and Jessie rebel against the ties that bind them to their dying town and to each other through an act of love both tender and traumatic that forces a generation of hard truths and recriminations out into the open.

Chicago psychiatrist Judd Stevens (Roger Moore) is suspected of murdering one of his patients when the man turns up stabbed to death in the middle of the city. After repeated attempts to convince cops Rod Steiger and Elliott Gould of his innocence, Dr.Stevens is forced to go after the real villains himself, and he finds himself up against one of the city’s most notorious Mafia kingpins.