The promotion Philian Kasik never wanted arrives without warning, stealing what little time he has left for the only thing that matters: painting portraits so brutally honest they strip away every comfortable lie.

After six years tethered to beige office walls, his carefully controlled life begins to fracture. When his wife persuades him to see an old classmate's exhibition—mediocre work that somehow commands acclaim—jealousy ignites. How can such garbage hang in galleries while his masterful canvases gather dust?

Haunted by an ever more disturbing nightmare, his nightly painting sessions turn to dark obsession, his creative fire a toxic concoction of rage and alcohol. His strained marriage frays further. His teenage daughter retreats into secrets too dangerous to miss. And when his boss's attention becomes impossible to deflect, one drunken act of rage changes everything.

Exceptional talent becomes tragic downfall when the man who captures the flaws of others so precisely seems entirely blind to his own self-destruction—until it's too late.