First generation Lebanese-American George Lahoud is a young man with dreams of a career in medicine, far from the immigrant life of his family. However, he must put aside his studies in Washington DC and return home to Danbury, Connecticut to run the family's market when his father becomes terminally ill.

As George settles reluctantly into the life he longed to leave, he faces the weight of family and community expectations. He marries Eleanor Rizkallah, the daughter of a wealthy and respected local Lebanese businessman. On the surface, this is a picture-perfect coupling, but on their honeymoon trip to Beirut, disaster manifests in the unlikely personage of Andros Seleukos, a young war veteran and painter. George's heart opens up, and he experiences a love that he's never allowed himself to imagine.