A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind, and even the fabric of his reality.

Shows the conflicts between three generations of the Thayers. The crotchety old professor and his wife spend their summer together on a lake in New England. The couple agrees to mind their estranged daughter's boyfriend's son, while the daughter and boyfriend go on a trip. The boy bonds with the old man in a way his daughter never did. Shows the terrors and graces of aging.