Mid-winter, early '80s. Llewellen is on the street, stranded in a strange city. He has lost his wife, his career, his home—everything that provided him with an identity.

Then, at his lowest point, he is befriended by Jansen, an American Zen master who knows that enlightened living is possible for anybody, anywhere. Jansen introduces him to a new society, a set of people whose example teaches him how to escape not from life, but into life.