An adaptation of Sheila Ballantyne's 1982 novel The story of Ray Weiler (Keitel), a widowed hustler trying to raise his two daughters in 1962 Portland, Oregon. His eldest daughter Sonya (Balk) is a gifted student and writer who attempts to start a life for herself despite her father's inability to change his self-destructive behaviour. Her journal entries form the basis of retrospective scenes documenting the family's story.