Edward is preparing to leave for a year of voluntary service in Africa. His mother Patricia and his sister Cynthia decide to gather the family together, on a remote island, as a farewell trip to say goodbye to Edward. Hired cook Rose and painting teacher Christopher, though bought in to help, only serve to bring the family's anxieties into sharper focus. When Edward's father is delayed, the unspoken forces of absence and loss bring the family's buried anger and repressed tension to the surface.