America of the 50s of the XX century. Triumphant. Prosperous. Successful. Hypocritical. Bourgeois. Mired in hypocrisy, dogmatism and averageness. In the best of William Styron’s novels, this era is judged by two heroes, each other’s original “alter egos” - the true “son of America” millionaire Mason Flagg and her “stepson” - tormented by his own “otherness”, neurotic artist Cass Kinsolving. Each of them has their own value system, their own code of honor, their own view of the surrounding reality. But probably this reality itself is such that it does not deserve an acquittal...