Drawing on interviews with Day-Lewis's family, friends and colleagues, this biography portrays a life from troubled boyhood to matinee idol manhood. It reveals how his past has returned to trouble him, a complex and enigmatic person akin to his myriad of screenroles. He is the chameleon creator of the crippled genius Christy Brown in "My Left Foot", the dashing frontiersman Hawkeye in "Last of the Mohicans", and the falsely imprisoned Gerry Conlon in "In the Name of the Father".