Abe Kunstler wants his share of the American Dream, which for him is a factory job, a wife and a family. Getting these things will be harder for Abe than it is for other people, however, because his life is a lie - an invention forged in the heat of a terrible crime. Haunted by his past, terrified of exposure, and searching obsessively for redemption, Abe moves from one ruthless act to the next, tricking an alcoholic young taxi-dancer into becoming first his wife, then the mother of a child she believes is his. When the life they have built is threatened, he becomes desperate, until even Abe himself isn't sure how far he'll go to keep his secret.