Leaving a crumbling marriage behind him in South Carolina, Tom Wingo (Nolte) travels to New York to help his sister's psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstien (Streisand) reconstruct the Wingo family's troubled history. As Tom delves into his turbulent past, he searches for what may be his own salvation as well as his sister's. At the same time, Tom gives the doctor courage to resolve her relationship with her arrogant husband. They come face to face with their own pains and make startling discoveries about each other and in the process, fall in love.