Unfulfilled housewife Pearl Kantrowitz (Diane Lane) suffers in quiet misery as the tumultuous events of the summer of 1969 unfold on the surface of her television screen. But, when Kantrowitz invites hunky traveling salesman Walker Jerome (Viggo Mortensen) into the safety of her living room for the live broadcast of the historic moon landing, they begin a passionate affair that threatens to destroy her marriage to her straight-laced high school sweetheart, Marty (Liev Schreiber).