Sam, a fourteen-year-old AO who works full time in a print shop, is the legal guardian of both his mother, a just released graduate of a Soberlife facility, and his younger brother, Ollie.

The father, now a Steemer, is long absent from the family. Sam has entrusted Ollie to the Bigelows, a childless, nondrinking couple who hope to adopt the boy permanently. Over the course of one week he must both help his mother readjust to life outside of the institution and make a decision about placing his brother with the Bigelows on a permanent basis. Intensely co-dependent, Sam has his mother's new, post-alcohol life all arranged. He has found her a job and a new apartment; he has even purchased her an entire new wardrobe. Sam believes, falsely as it turns out, that Ollie is unaware of his mother's alcohol addiction. His cover...