New York City, 1957. Lionel Essrog, a private detective living with Tourette syndrome, tries to solve the murder of his mentor and best friend, armed only with vague clues and the strength of his obsessive mind.

On Christmas Day, with the help of his grandson, George still haunted with regret from the loss of Violet, the 'wayward girl' he loved decades ago, gets to go back through time and relive and possibly change his unresolved past.

November 2011. Greece collapses financially. Prime Minister Papandreu announces a Referendum initiative on his austerity plan. In the meantime, the life of Stavros, a mobbed up Greek immigrant in New York, is about to change forever.

When Vincenzo Scocozza , an Italian immigrant sculptor living and working in Manhattan, weds the expectant Charlene Taylor, it over complicates his life for he is already married