Max Androv was happily self-absorbed. After taking an advertising job in Japan, however, he finds it increasingly difficult to maintain his high standards of egocentrism. Max, through no fault of his own, has become a single father. His daughter, Joey, about to turn five, now insists on being baptized into the Catholic Church. As a former altar boy and catechism survivor, Max loathes any structure with pews. Hounded by his lovely Filipina neighbor and his police-officer sister, both devout Catholics, the reluctant father's efforts to put himself first are increasingly frustrated. And when a high-school friend shows up after a twenty-year absence-missing most of his teeth-Max gets a baptism of his own.