Inside, outside

Plot

This evocative portrait of the American Jewish experience illustrates the clash between the "Inside" of tradition and religion, and the "Outside" of the glittery American dream. Israel David Goodkind is a minor bureaucrat in the Nixon White House, killing empty office time by writing the story of four generations of his large, sprawling Russian-Jewish immigrant family. As he recounts his brief stint in show business, his torrid affair with a showgirl, and his encounters with a hassled and distracted President Nixon, Goodkind also witnesses historical events firsthand--the Watergate scandal, the Yom Kippur War--and eventually finds his way back to his Jewish faith.