In the 1950s Wilf Grace rules his family with a will of iron. While his eccentric wife, Margot, dreams of keeping her favourite son, Joseph, a schizophrenic, at home with her, their grasping sons, Edward and Robin, fight over the future inheritance with each other and with their artistic sister, Monica. However, it is only after Wilf's death that Monica's creative talent for separating her relatives from their money becomes evident in a deadly struggle for control of the family fortune.