In this magically realistic drama with a healthy dose of black comedy, family patriarch Brian has fallen ill with cancer. His son, Sean, has dropped out of college and returned to Cambridge to care for him. Complicating rather than assisting Sean’s efforts is his sister, Patty, who lives nearby but does not do well with the sick–nor with anyone, for that matter. While children and father all hope for the reconciliation that has escaped them in the past, the strains of Brian’s illness and close quarters instead push them even further apart. Brian’s anti-Semitism, sexism and homophobia are bad enough, but to his children, his refusal to accept them for who they are is his greatest failing. What’s worse, Brian’s complaints about the disappointments of his life–the greatest being Sean–infuriate both of his children: Sean for obvious reasons; Patty because, even when listing his disappointments, Brian hardly notices her.

Then, Sean discovers the hoard of pain killers with which Brian intends to kill himself before the pain of his illness can overwhelm him, in part to spare his children the horrors of a prolonged deathwatch. While they ponder whether to let their father go ahead with his plan or to intervene, Brian awkwardly tries to make amends. In this he is aided by frequent visits from the Virgin Mary, who may or may not be a Percocet-induced figment of his imagination. Closure is a black comedy about the endgame of a dysfunctional life and the ways in which even a seemingly hopeless broken family will try to mend itself before the last chance at reconciliation is gone forever.