A depressed young man (Joaquin Phoenix) moves back in with his parents following a personal crisis and finds his life turned upside down as he struggles to choose between the beautiful daughter of a close family friend (Vinessa Shaw) and the volatile, scintillating woman next door (Gwyneth Paltrow) whose passion reignites his lust for life. James Gray's deeply felt romantic drama — inspired by Dostoevsky's White Nights — is one of the great American films of the 2000s, featuring a towering performance from Phoenix.