When Paul Bannerman, an ecologist in Africa, is diagnosed with cancer and given radioactive treatment, his suddenly fragile existence causes him to question his life for the first time. He is particularly struck by the value disparity between his work as a conservationist and that of his wife, an advertising agency executive. The strange nature of Paul's condition forces his mother to confront her own past when he moves in with his parents to protect his wife and young son from radiation.