During the 1940s, Jay (Mike Damus) and Arty (Brad Stoll) find their lives turned upside down when their father moves south for work, leaving them with their no-nonsense grandmother (Irene Worth) and their loving but absent-minded spinster aunt, Bella (Mercedes Ruehl). Along the way, they're also introduced to Uncle Louie (Richard Dreyfuss), a small-time crook. Underlying tension between Bella and her mother surface when Bella decides to marry her boyfriend, Johnny (David Strathairn).