"If A Man Wanted To Disappear" is an essay film about the disappearance of artist Nik Nerburn's great-grandfather, Joseph Nerburn, who vanished after his wife's mysterious death in 1930. By constructing photographic stand-ins for his family's story, Nerburn retraces Joseph's path from a Minneapolis boarding house to a field in rural Michigan where he may have fled to. Drawing on archival images, the writings of populist historian Meridel Le Sueur, and a letter from Joseph's son to the artist's father, this film charts the ways that four generations of men are linked by both tragedy and tenderness. This film is about how families make myths, how artists make images, and how men keep secrets.