Robert De Niro and Paul Dano star as an estranged father and son attempting to reconnect in this drama based on writer Nick Flynn's memoir of his difficult early life. With his con-man father Jonathan (De Niro) having disappeared out his life when he was a child and his mother Jody (Julianne Moore) subsequently committing suicide, struggling writer Nick (Dano) finds it hard to get his life back on track. Things are complicated further when, after a break of 18 years, an alcoholic and delusional Jonathan turns up at the homeless shelter where Nick now works, looking for a place to sleep. Over the coming weeks Nick wrestles with his demons as he tries to make sense of everything life has thrown at him so far.