Professor Joel Goldblatt is going through a tough spell. He has an overbearing father who doesn't understand his life, a wife who understands him too well, and a daughter who is growing up too fast. Now a smart, beautiful, earnest student in his American History Class has him careening into fantasies that threaten his oncoming middle age years. It seems that his formidable book learning may be inadequate to keep his whole life from unravelling.