A snowy New York City night, a beloved teacher, a shocking crime: this provocative drama pieces together the puzzle of a man's life just before it changes forever. While on his way home one evening, Walter Zarrow (Sam Waterston), a popular Columbia University philosophy professor, is violently attacked on the street.

Flash back one week, as actor-director Tim Blake Nelson traces the domino effect of events that led up to this seemingly senseless assault. Along the way, hidden connections between a seemingly disparate group of people-including a self-destructive student (Kristen Stewart), a hard-drinking suburban housewife (Gretchen Mol), and a desperate junkie (K. Todd Freeman)-emerge, forming a complex, engrossing mosaic of lost souls united by tragedy.