Frank (Paul Bettany) is a gay famous New York University professor in 1973 who left his small South Carolina town behind him and remained in little contact with his family, especially given his style of life and his relationship with his ten-year partner, the free spirit Wally (Peter Macdissi). No one really knows about Frank’s life, except his newly-arrived teenage niece, Beth, who promises to keep his relationship with the family secret. But when, Mac, the overbearing patriarch of his family dies, Frank is forced to go home for the funeral, where old traumas arise and he has to face his family again.