William, age 50, is barely going through the motions, trapped in the unspeakable hell unique to parents who outlive their children. After watching in helpless horror as a train kills his beloved only child, he is fired from his job, and his wife, as ruined by suffocating sadness as her husband, moves in with her sister. Meanwhile, William's treasured daughter-in-law seeks oblivion in the arms of a local carpenter, and nothing seems able to break through his pain.