There's an ominous crack in the surface of the upscale suburban world of The Canasta Players, a world inhabited by Michael Saunders, a middle-aged professor who discovers the good life is a little too rich for his blood. Torn between a beautiful career-driven wife and an enigmatic lover, trapped on a stock market roller-coaster and tormented by recurring chest pains, Samuels becomes a desperate man playing for time--but the odds are against him.