The Tank, a high-profile Danish firm, is down-sizing. Frederick Breathwaite, a well-positioned American in the firm, sees the axe about to fall, and is desperately trying to cut his losses. Meanwhile, his colleague Harald is too distracted by various women - including the Tank's married CFO - to notice the impending doom, or the potential loss of his daughters to his disgruntled ex.

While Frederick frets over his finances, his 21-year-old son has quit school to assist an Afghani shoemaker in the city's slums. But the Breathwaite boy has also caught the eye of Adam Kampman - the teenage son of Frederick's unscrupulous new boss. And while the fathers are frantic about their sons' futures, the boys live in fear that their futures will look like their fathers'.

As the autumn days of Copenhagen grow shorter and heads roll through the Tank's corporate hallways, a diverse cast of managers and underlings, spouses, lovers and children will all face reckonings economic, emotional, and existential.

Thomas E. Kennedy shows his remarkable range with Falling Sideways, a smart and tender satire of middle age and modern life.