Adapted from Chaim Potok's best-selling novel, this film examines the differences among Orthodox Jews and conflicts between fathers and sons. Set in Brooklyn in the 1940's, the story focuses on two sons (Robbie Benson and Barry Miller) and two fathers (Maximilian Schell and Rod Steiger): Danny, the brilliant scion of a Hasidic dynasty in training to succeed his formidable father as Grand Rabbi; and Reuven, the son of a worldly progressive scholar. The boys develop a strong friendship and find themselves influenced by the other's father. When the fathers enter into a bitter, passionate conflict over the issue of Zionism, their devoted and dutiful sons must part ways-until one makes the painful choice to oppose his father and claim his own destiny.
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