What does the man who has everything give himself for a birthday present? Harry Silver is considering a red sports car. He already has a beautiful wife, a wonderful child, a good salary from a job he enjoys in the fast-moving world of television. Then, in a moment of infidelity, Harry throws it all away and in losing his marriage, he comes to see that his life has not always been the simple picture it might have appeared.
His son Pat is upset and afraid at the turn of events, and Harry comes to rely on his own parents for help, at the same time examining the role they have played in his life - so much that he always took for granted, or didn't understand. In particular, his father, the war hero and traditionalist, now looms large in Harry's life. Can he ever live up the old man's standards?
Without his wife Gina, Harry starts to think about what they both needed from each other, what they might find in someone else, where the responsibility lies for so much pain. And Harry has to live. In the turmoil that his life has become, he has to bring up his child, look after his parents, work out his relationships and hold down a job. As millions of women have discovered before him, that is not as easy as it looked before. 'Man and Boy' is by turns funny, sharp, warm and sad.
