Approaching his 40th birthday, Bryan Getz yearns to reestablish the close relationship he once had with his mother, Thelma. As her only child, she doted upon him, lavishing him with affection, especially as her marriage to Bryan's father deteriorated. They finally separated when Bryan was ten. From then until age thirteen Bryan was literally the center of his single-mother's universe.

All that changed during his thirteenth year, when she began to date and then marry another man.

Bryan detested his step-father, a feeling that grew in intensity as his high school years passed. A few weeks before his eighteenth birthday, Bryan fells the hated man with one punch and walks out of his mother's life, vowing never to return.

The damage that had been done to his psyche made his college years tumultuous, setting a pattern for the rest of his life. Although he achieved success in business and great wealth, his personal life was defined by alienation and oedipal conflict.

Bryan buys the derelict mansion his grandparents owned and devotes several years of his life to restoring the mansion. It is during this period of self-imposed isolation that his longing to reconnect with his mother grows, and he suspects that his inability to establish a loving relationship is due to misplaced sexual longing.

Can Bryan tame his demons and reconnect with his mother?