Shawn Phillips, a photographer with a New York magazine, returns to California to visit his mother. She is killed by an apparent drive-by shooting. Two of Shawn's brothers are in prison for armed robberies. Police suspect that Shawn is involved in criminal activity and may have been the intended victim. To prove them wrong Shawn sets out on what becomes a roller coaster ride that plunges into dark tunnels, climbs to heights of self discovery and a loving relationship, then begins again with more puzzling questions that develop intriguingly into a deeply emotive enquiry into human spirituality.