Fred (Michael Caine), a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick (Harvey Keitel), a film director, is still working. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children’s confused lives and the other hotel guests, all of whom, it seems, have the time that they lack. And while Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred, who gave up his musical career long ago, has no intention of returning to it. But someone wants at all costs to hear his compositions and to see him conduct again.