When nine year old John O'Conner's parents die in an auto accident, he moves in with his twenty-seven year old Uncle Jack, a struggling artist. Jack O'Connor lives in a converted barn where he creates his art, and is ill-prepared to care for his nephew. After a series of incidents and rumors, Uncle Jack's fitness as a guardian is called into question, and John is placed in foster care. Through the years, as John ages, he observes with growing concern the stormy relationship between his Uncle Jack, a drinker and womanizer, and Grace McCormack, a young heiress with an obvious drug problem. When Grace bears a son, Jack's life becomes even more complicated. Meanwhile, Jack's muse and soulmate inspires his greatest work. John becomes especially protective of Jack's and Grace's son, Jackie, who manages to grow into a responsible young man despite his parents' shortcomings. John's relations are as complicated as his uncle's. As a teen, he falls in love with two girls who slip from his life but never his thoughts. Over the years, the deep love and caring of uncle and nephew form an unbreakable bond with each providing support for the other to surmount family dysfunction and tragedy.