Spanning two decades, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG traces the complex, often heartbreaking unravelling of a once-unbreakable friendship between composer Franklin Shepard and his two closest friends — playwright-lyricist Charley and writer Mary. But this is no ordinary story. Told in reverse, the film winds backwards through time, beginning in fractured adulthood and journeying back to the bright-eyed optimism of youth — when everything still seemed possible.