John is an aspiring film director, working in obscurity at an upstate New York college. He struggles to find creativity within his working class family and the comfortable, somewhat complacent life he's built with his wife. John seems to discover it when an interview with his WWII veteran grandfather inspires him to film a biopic about normal people - with himself, his friends and family the subjects. But when life goes off script in the darkest of ways John questions all his assumptions about art, relationship, and his ability to assume an adult mantle of responsibility. Is the kindness and bravery of those around him enough to show John the way through tragedy, or will his existential crisis destroy his family, his career, and ultimately end his life?