Arthur Przybyszewski runs a shabby donut shop he inherited from his immigrant father in a historic but rundown Chicago neighborhood. At the beginning of the play, a vandal has broken the shop window, but Arthur is too depressed to care. His ex-wife recently died, and he's haunted by his decision to flee to Canada during the Vietnam War. Enter Franco Wicks, a livewire 21-year-old African-American who applies for a job and immediately envisions ways to spruce up the shop—and help his boss attract the attention of a lady cop. As folks from the neighborhood come and go and secrets are revealed about Arthur and Franco, the two men find their lives changing in unexpected ways.