In the present, an ad executive remembers his life through a series of short flashbacks. These snapshots illustrate the executive's troubled relationships with his two previous wives, his resigned but still decent current marriage, his former job at an agency where he won an award for a highly unusual ad, and his current job in San Diego writing brochures. More specific memories include the time a woman at his dinner party was dared to kiss a war veteran's amputated leg, the time one of his friends threw a valuable painting into the fireplace to prove a point, the time his ex-wife called to tell him that she was dying, and the time his friend met a woman who had lied about her identity before she married a prison inmate.