Synopsis

This is an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel. In the 1950s, A young Jewish writer travels to the Berkshires to meet his literary hero E. I. Lonoff. He is eager to please and nervous about meeting his idol. Lonoff's wife, Hope is there as well as a lovely young woman who seems to be assisting the great man in some way. During dinner he is obliged to sit there while Hope explodes with anger and jealousy over the young woman Amy. Because of the weather, the young writer Nathan stays the night and spins a fantasy of who this young woman is. Could she be Anne Frank who somehow survived the war? He overhears an intimate conversation between Amy and Lonoff. He also reflects on his relationship with his father who has strenuously objected to a story he has published recounting an embarrassing incident involving his aunt. A number of ethical and moral questions are raised about the role of fiction and the responsibility of a writer to his family, his people and himself.