Attractive couple, Joan and Tom Brent, have retired to a charming new house in a charming Cape Cod town. Joan, as a self-designated sophisticated ex-New Yorker, finds herself in conflict with local citizens whom she considers vulgarians, and whom they consider to be an outsider troublemaker. Joan's dream of an idyllic rustic retirement begins to seriously fall apart when a fire destroys their new home. Thus begins the unraveling of their idyllic lives. Tom, stressed out, suffers a stroke that renders him a helpless invalid. Joan, distraught, turns to alcohol and prescription drugs, resulting in her incarceration against her will in a rehab clinic. With all the elements of a classic Greek tragedy, the story proceeds to a devastating heartbreaking brutal conclusion.