Marie-Line Grinda

Photographer Barnard Jacobs is dying and Ashley, the woman he loves, won't admit her feelings for him. She's too wrapped up in her cocaine addiction and desire to find a wealthy husband. When fashionista Madeleine begs Barnard to call Ashley for drugs, a party develops. Madeline pairs off with a rich tech executive named Boccaccio. Barnard goes home, where Ashley, seeking peace and solitude, joins him. In flashback, Barnard recalls how his best friend Pickering hired him to take photos of women's eyes. He hired Ashley and the two forged a deep connection. Back in the present, Boccaccio and Madeleine do drugs and become removed from the world. As Barnard learns death is near, he reaches out to Ashley in a final attempt to save both of them.

Unemployed John goes to a bar, where he meets Sofia, who mistakes him for a trust-fund brat and offers her sexual services for money. John doesn't bother to dispel Sofia's misconceptions and accepts her invitation to get stoned. As Sofia and John pass "the most expensive chocolate shop in the world," both are captivated by the cakes in the windows. He is stunned when the amount comes to $42.50. On the Brooklyn Bridge, Sofia shares a traumatic incident from her past in which her drug dealer boyfriend was murdered in front of her and she was raped by the killers. Recomposing herself, Sofia leaves and John, in his drugged state, devours the cakes.

The aftermath of 9/11 has left the firefighters of the NYFD traumatized, and no one more so than Tommy Gavin. Recently separated from his wife and their three kids, Tommy drifts between sorrow and anger as he tries to shake the recurring nightmares of his fallen comrades, especially his late cousin, Jimmy Keefe. Working alongside veterans like Lt. “Lou” Shea, Franco Rivera and Sean Garrity, and rookie Mike Lombardi, Tommy battles alcohol and drugs as he struggles to remain first and foremost a New York City firefighter.