The shocking true story of Lila and William Young, owners of the Ideal Maternity Home for unwed mothers. Resented by the medical community, the Home falls under public scrutiny when a routine delivery of an infant results in the mysterious deaths of two patients. Soon, the Youngs are burying dead babies in butterboxes and selling healthy ones to childless couples.

In 1919, Ambrose Small was a wealthy theater impresario who spent his spare time dabbling in gambling, drugs and prostitution. At the height of his glory, he sold his successful theater chain for over a million dollars, sent a bodyguard with his wife Theresa (Wendy Crewson) to the bank with the cheque, and then vanished without a trace. There were no witnesses, no notes and no clues.

Charlie Kilworth (Christian Campbell), a piano-player turned ballroom dancer, avoids most relationships out of fear that he might pass on the hereditary affliction of madness that runs in his family. However when he begins to fall in love with a blues singer in his band, Charlie also starts to comprehend why his mother Lily (Stockard Channing) is a beautiful mercurial visionary who has been obsessed with fire her entire life.