Filmmaker Sheldon Schiffer offers an intimate and revealing portrait of his immigrant Central American family woven from his own childhood memories and reminiscences of his grandparents, mother and aunt.

In interviews conducted during the last months of his life, Schiffer's grandfather, Adam Morales ("Tata"), the family patriarch, discusses his notions of what it was to be a man--including the need to command respect, macho notions of sexuality, emotional outbursts coupled with the threat of physical violence, and sexist notions of childrearing. These "memories of Tata" are contrasted with the often painful recollections of his estranged wife and two daughters. By looking at his grandfather's life and character, the filmmaker raises questions about the cultural context that shaped it, and shows how exaggerated expressions of male identity can cost a man the love of his entire family.