Set during the Great Depression, Ironweed tells the story of a bum named Francis Phelan.

Phelan is a native of Albany, New York who left his family after accidentally killing his infant son.

Moreover, a surreal element is added to the narrative, as Phelan sees and tries to interact with dead people from his troubled past.

[6] The novel's epigraph is a quotation from Purgatorio:To course o’er better watersnow hoists sail the little bark of my wit, leaving behind her a sea so cruel.

[9] Kennedy wrote the screenplay for the 1987 film version of Ironweed, which was directed by Héctor Babenco and starred Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.