Marsha Recknagel's story begins with the surprise appearance of her 16-year-old nephew, Jamie, who arrives on her doorstop and into her ordered, childless life. Fleeing his abusive home with Marsha's feckless brother and his unstable wife, Jamie is an ominous creature. He is dressed in Goth garb and clearly ready to take to the streets. For Marsha, to open the door is to risk opening herself up to the pain of the past, all that Jamie embodies of the family. Reluctantly she takes him inside. Marsha adopts the boy and begins the painful, terrifying, and extraordinary process of unraveling the damage inflicted by her family on one of its own.