Born and raised in a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish family, Tova Mirvis committed herself to observing the rules and rituals prescribed by this way of life. After all, to observe was to be accepted, and to be accepted was to be loved. She married a man from within the fold and quickly began a family. But over the years, her doubts became noisier than her faith, and at age 40 she could no longer breathe in what had become a suffocating existence. Even though it would mean the loss of her friends, her community and possibly even her family, Tova decides to leave her marriage and her religious world and forge a new way of life. In order to do so, she must learn to silence her fears and the voices telling her who she is supposed to be.

Nina is a harried young mother who spends her evenings spying on the older couple across the street, drawn to their quiet contentment. One night, through that same window, she spies a young couple in the throes of passion. In the coming weeks, Nina encounters the older couple, their daughter and her fiancé, and many others on the streets of her Upper West Side neighborhood, eroding the safe distance of her secret vigils.