Vicki Miller is a thirty-something Houston writer living a well-ordered and purposefully childless life when her sixteen-year-old nephew Bobby arrives from Louisiana on her doorstep. The awkward and morbidly troubled young man is seeking deliverance from his chaotic and abusive home and an emotional tug-of-war between Vicki’s unstable younger brother and his wife. A virtual stranger to Bobby, Vicki is no stranger to the family nightmare from which Bobby is fleeing. She left it behind years ago to retreat, like her nephew, into her own cocoon. For Vicki to open her door to Bobby means opening a door to her own past, her own pain, and the secrets that have shadowed her. In a moment of compassion, Vicki lets Bobby in.
