Aspiring photographer, Sam Cohen, knows there must be more to life than helping his father run the family business in Cleveland, Ohio. He sets off for NYC and stumbles into an unforgettable adventure in the heart of the celebrity and art world of the 1980’s.
He apprentices Johnny Strand the photo man in his wacky commercial photo studio. Sam gets his big break a year later when he becomes the photo assistant to the world-famous Izzy Teivel.
It is an auspicious start for Sam but reality sets in and dysfunction prevails. Izzy is revered by her fans, clients, and subjects, but is unrealistically demanding to everyone, especially Sam, who finds himself questioning his choices and sanity.
The pressure causes a near breakdown and manifests as nightmares of his father’s past as a Holocaust survivor. Sam’s guilt in leaving his family behind is triggered by Izzy’s photo assignment with Vanity Way to photograph the famous Jewish writers, Elie Wiesel, and I.B. Singer. Morally conflicted, Sam has to decide whether to return to Cleveland to help his estranged father and overprotective mother or to stay in NYC and pursue his own dreams.
