John Mapother, son of the most powerful family in the provincial backwater of Bashford, decides after various private failures that he wants to enter American Congress. Except he has no idea about the world of his constituents. But his younger brother, Blue Gene, the black sheep of the family, does, and he also knows that simple folk are not that simple at all, starting with the rebellious punk rock girl he’s fallen in love with.

A great American family drama, highly intelligent, melancholic and surprisingly topical.