It is about an American middle class, suburban family that is torn apart when the youngest son is kidnapped and raised by a mentally ill woman, until he appears at the front doorstep of his real mother and asks if he can mow the lawn.

Wisconsin photographer and housewife Beth Cappadora leaves her youngest son, Ben, alone with his older brother for a brief moment in a crowded Chicago hotel lobby, while attending her high school reunion.

Beth goes into an extended mental breakdown and it is left to her husband and owner of a restaurant, Pat, to force his wife to robotically care for their remaining two children, 7-year-old Vincent and infant daughter Kerry.

Pat still has problems loving his sons: Ben because he cannot relate to his personality and Vincent because he does not connect his teenage rebellion and cynicism to nine years of bad parenting.

Beth has regained her position in the family as an equal parent, but Ben and Vincent's emotional scars may require years of intense therapy.

Aside from ethnicity, there is an underlined theme in the story about women's empowerment as Beth awakens from her nine-year depression to argue with Pat about how to deal with Ben's dual-ethnic and family identity.