Plot Summary:It's the 1920's. The Hermans - Harry Herman, his wife Annie Herman née Elias, their adolescent son David Herman, and Annie's father - are a Jewish family living in a small flat in the working class Jewish neighborhood of Montréal. David loves his "Zaida" (grandfather) with who he spends most Sundays driving around in their horse drawn wagon collecting junk - namely "rags, clothes, bottles" - to earn money. David also loves hearing his Zaida's stories about their Jewish culture, although most of those stories are made up and not based based on religious Jewish beliefs. Those stories are only one bone of contention between religious Zaida and secular Harry, as modern thinking Harry feels the stories are old fashioned hogwash and provide David with no grounding in what is real in life. Another issue of contention is money, as Harry is always dreaming of get rich schemes - the latest being to manufacture permanently creased and thus iron-less trousers - for which Zaida will not provide unconditional funding. And a third issue is Zaida's aging horse Ferdeleh, which Harry believes would be better put to sleep. Usually, David, who is at the stage in his life where he takes most things literally, sides with his Zaida, and considers his father a liar. Caught in the middle is Annie. How to handle David becomes a larger issue when two of the most natural of events occur within their family.
戴维(Jeff Lynas 饰)是生活在俄国的犹太人,跟随家人搬到了加拿大生活。戴维的父亲十分希望能够在事业上做出一番成就,无奈屡屡遭遇挫折,因此性格难免有些暴躁。在家里,戴维和外公感情最好,外公经常骑着马车带着戴维在外面兜风,外公和他的马车构成了戴维童年中不可或缺的一道靓丽风景现。 渐渐的,父亲发现了戴维和自己的疏离,于是开始在戴维和外公之间挑拨离间。一场意外中,戴维和外公之间产生了误会,导致马厩被拆,外公也病倒了。当戴维从亲戚家赶回家中时,父亲告诉戴维,马和外公都已经死了,绝望的戴维无法接受这一噩耗。