Francis Bacon, a young, gay Irishman, finds love and danger in the shadows of Weimar Berlin. Sent to live with his uncle after being kicked out of school, Francis enjoys the creative and sexual resurgence of Berlin. But it's clear that his uncle is up to something shady, and when the Nazis send Uncle Lastings fleeing for his life, Francis is left alone and penniless in a city that gets more menacing every night.

"Peace has come to England and the blackout is over, but the gloom has yet to lift from London. One night, leaving a gambling club where he has run up a considerable tab, the young painter Francis Bacon, accompanied by his lover, sees a man gunned down in the street. They do what they can to stanch the flow of blood, but the Frenchman dies in the hospital. Soon afterward, Bacon receives a strange offer from the club owner: He will erase Bacon's debts...

"Picasso & Matisse. Manet & Degas. Pollack & de Kooning. Lucian Freud & Francis Bacon. This is the story of four pairs of artists-- each linked by friendship and a spirit of competitiveness. Taken together, they form an impressive lineage stretching across more than 150 years. But in each case, these relationships had a flashpoint, a damaging psychological event that seemed to mark both an end and a new beginning, a break that led onto new creative...