As the Vietnam War rages, tensions flare between peacenik Cate and her cousin Albie who’s gung-ho for God and country. But life didn’t begin that way for these cousins and best friends raised in 1960s New Jersey under the strict eye of their parents and the nuns in their Catholic grammar school.  

They drift apart as Albie secretly enlists right after graduation. Meanwhile, Cate rebels against her religious upbringing and protests the war. She yearns for the tie-dye and bell-bottom world of Greenwich Village but can only afford a fifth-floor walk-up in Hell’s Kitchen. To survive, she chases her mother's unrealized dream of becoming a secretary in one of Manhattan’s male-dominated corporate skyscrapers. Life becomes a nightmare. 

In a twist of fate, Cate finds friendship with a gay man disowned by his evangelical military family, who is co-writing a play honoring Vietnam veterans. She decides to help and is gripped by the stories of vets suffering invisible scars of war and hatred hurled at them by fellow citizens upon their return. When tragedy strikes, her world turns upside down. She’s forced to pick up the pieces of her life and career.

Women’s rights, faith, patriotism, gay liberation, and treatment of Vietnam veterans collide in this tumultuous tug-of-war with the American flag, where both sides claim the high ground. Spanning the late ’50s to the early ’80s, Cate’s quest for purpose and meaning is one of encouragement, resilience, and transformation that resonates in today’s troubling times.