 Perhaps seeking a father figure as a result of childhood abandonment, Michael, who s about 35, carries on with older men a mix of affairs, one-night stands, and casual sex in public toilets. Joe, from whom he has recently broken, abuses him; his latest flame, a police detective, ignores him. His and his twin Joey s birthday approaches, and it triggers memories of their childhood and their illnesses at age seven, leaving Michael a bad heart and retarding Joey s mental development. He buys a birthday present for Joey, but in his melancholy, arrives late after his brother is sleeping. His mother still mourns her husband s leaving. A crisis and resolution ensue.