If I know why he is the way he is then maybe I can learn why I am the way I am," says Alex Tuchman, strong-headed lawyer, loving mother, and daughter of Victor Tuchman -- a power-hungry real estate developer and, by all accounts, a bad man. Now that Victor is on his deathbed, Alex feels she can finally unearth the secrets of who he is. She travels to New Orleans to be with her family, but mostly to interrogate her tightlipped mother, Barbra. As Barbra fends off Alex's unrelenting questions, she reflects on her tumultuous life with Victor.