Victor Tuchman - a power-hungry real estate developer and an all-round bad man - is finally on his deathbed. His daughter Alex feels she can finally unearth the secrets of who he really was and what he did over the course of his life. She travels to New Orleans to be with her family, but mostly to interrogate her tight-lipped mother, Barbra. As Barbra fends off Alex's unrelenting questions, she reflects on her tumultuous married life. Meanwhile Gary, Alex's brother, is incommunicado, trying to get his movie career off the ground in Los Angeles. And Gary's wife, Twyla, is having a nervous breakdown, buying up all the lipstick in drug stores while bursting into crying fits. As each family member grapples with Victor's history, they must figure out a way to move forward - with one another, for themselves and for the sake of their children.