When sixteen-year-old Sylvia meets her boyfriend"s father, Phillip, she is quickly captivated by his stories of travel and his reckless contempt for nineties" convention. Still a rebel in his forties, Phillip"s world is slowly collapsing. Sylvia clings to her faith in him as his marriage breaks up, his business fails and he fuels his bravado with drugs. Only after his death does she piece together the clues that point to a sinister reality.