A sad but warm story of how tradition sustains values and can be a vitalizing force in contemporary life. Paulie Binder is a modern-day pilgrim of sorts, a young Reformed Jew whose roots lie buried, and seemingly withered, in the Yiddish sector of Brooklyn, which he had left in favor of the bohemian-fringe campus life of Cambridge. But when fulfillment eludes him, he returns to New York seeking inspiration from his grandfather, who tenaciously clings to the old, familiar, Orthodox ways of his homeland. Greenfield establishes a dialectical relationship between Paulie and his grandfather, emphasizing the shared sense of profound alienation from home and self. The temple stands at the center of this tale both as a social hub for the Jewish community and as a symbol of a quest for the sacred.