A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a rush of panic, he steals 'The Goldfinch', a painting that eventually draws him into a world of crime.

Eight-year-old Cal desperately craves attention from her childish father, and is prone to running away. John is a lonely widower whose life is filled with fear. When they meet one weekend in the shining woods of New England, their lives change forever.