Verbose writer, Walter Quill, thinks he's God; his wife thinks he's hopelessly inept ; his teenage kids don't want to have anything to do with him; his editor wants another best-selling novel and his dentist thinks he brushes too hard. So, Walter creates another life, one full of everything happiness. The more his reality becomes dismal the more his created family becomes real. This accepting family shows up on the street, at the dentist office and even at his home. The trajectory of these two realities catapults Walter to highs of awkward despair, placing him face to face with the eternal questions, 'Why is happiness so elusive and how do I brush too hard when I'm using a soft bristle brush?'