Brett Sprague returns to an uneasy homecoming, after a year served in prison, unvisited, on a deadly assault charge. He's a collapsed nova of a man, dangerously manipulative at close range, but too easily forgotten when he's taken out of his family's orbit. During the year's neglect he has been repressing anger and fermenting sexual doubt and frustration, as well as a poisonous suspicion of the girlfriend and family who construct his minor universe. Changes in the familial order only heighten his alienation. Increasing the distance between how things are from the way they were before Brett's incarceration is tart girlfriend Michelle, whose direct, agressive lust is painfully underscored by Brett's post-prison failure to respond physically to it. Matters are made worse when an ill wind of paranoia blows in as Brett discovers that a hidden cache of drugs has been pillaged during his time in jail.