Orphaned sinse they were children, Sammy and Terry Prescott from Scottsville, a small town in upstate New York, have remained very close despite the two totally different paths of their lives. Married and divorced at a young age, Sammy is a devoted mother to her eight-year-old son, Rudy, who harbors romantic notions about his absentee father. Terry leads a troubled and nomadic life; he is very charming but totally irresponsible and self destructive. While Terry and Rudy form a real friendship, Sammy's routinized life conflicts with Terry's wild irresponsibility, and their human limitations bump up against each other until a final crisis nearly forces them apart.