A tale of incest, abuse, death and self-destruction of a very dysfunctional family: As young children, Rodney and Luke, his younger, mentally handicapped brother look on as their father performs a piano recital in their living room. Neither the children or the mother seem to find it odd that daddy is stark naked while "tickling the ivories," and the story becomes more bizarre from there. Jealous of the attention showered on his younger, handicapped brother, Rodney abuses him when he can, both psychologically and later, sexually, and the brother just wants to please his older sibling, because of the affection he has for him. When the boy commits suicide Rodney's sanity unravels and he ends up working the streets as a prostitute, and even eating out of the garbage and succumbing to his own, self-inflicted demise.