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Lonely widower Professor Walter Vale has a boring life in Connecticut. He teaches only one class at the local college and is trying to learn how to play the piano, despite lacking the necessary musical talent. Walter is assigned to attend a conference about Global Policy and Development at New York University and give a lecture about a paper he co-authored. When he arrives at his New York apartment, he finds Tarek Khalil, a Syrian musician, and Zainab, a Senegalese street vendor, living there. He sympathizes with the illegal immigrants situation and invites the couple to stay with him. Tarek invites him to go to his gig at Jules Live Jazz. Walter is fascinated with his African drum and Tarek offers to teach Walter how to play it. However, after an incident in the subway, Tarek is arrested and sent to a detention center for illegal immigrants. Walter has just hired a lawyer to defend Tarek when, out of the blue, Tareks mother Mouna arrives at the apartment from Michigan. He invites her to stay in Tareks room, and while trying to get Tarek released, Walter and Mouna get close to each other and he finds reasons to feel life can be exciting and worth living again.
Walter Vale is a sullen, lonely economics professor in Connecticut, teaching only one class--the same one hes taught for 20 years--ostensibly so he can work on his book, but he isnt; while hes co-authoring with a tenure-tracked colleague, his connection is in name only, nor does he want anything to do with it. Although he has no aptitude for it, his one desire is to learn to play the piano to feel connected to his deceased pianist wife. On a business trip to New York City, he finds two people living in the seldom-used apartment he has there: Syrian drummer Tarek Khalil and his girlfriend, Senegalese-born jewelry maker Zainab, who were duped by an acquaintance into believing they were renting the apartment. As Tarek and Zainab have nowhere to go, Walter allows them to stay in his apartment temporarily. Although Zainab feels uncomfortable around Walter, Tarek draws him into his life through their shared love of music, especially Tareks African drumming. Their acquaintance evolves into genuine friendship and reawakens Walter to life. A misunderstanding on the subway leads to Tareks arrest and the revelation that Tarek and Zainab are illegal immigrants. After he is transferred to an immigration detention center in Queens, Walter hires an immigration lawyer and acts as liaison between Tarek and Zainab. Tareks mother, Michigan-based Mouna Khalil, comes to New York unexpectedly because she hasnt heard from her son in days. She too is in the U.S. illegally and cannot visit Tarek. Helping Tarek becomes Walters new focus in life and his means to re-enter the world of the living.
Richard Jenkins
Walter
Haaz Sleiman
Tarek
Danai Gurira
Zainab
Hiam Abbass
Mouna
Marian Seldes
Barbara
Maggie Moore
Karen
Michael Cumpsty
Charles
Bill McHenry
Darin
Richard Kind
Jacob
Tzahi Moskovitz
Zev
Amir Arison
Mr. Shah
Neal Lerner
Martin Revere
Ramon Fernandez
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Deborah Rush
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