When 12-year-old Andy meets Laurie and Jeff at an adoption party, he has already been in eight foster homes. Andy’s alcoholic mother has given him up to the state as “too hard to handle,” and his father is in jail. Andy longs for a loving home and parents he can trust, but his attention deficit disorder, combined with the legacy of his dysfunctional parents, causes him to constantly challenge authority. He steals, destroys property, gets in trouble at school, tries to make a gunpowder bomb, and accuses Jeff, his soon-to-be father, of touching him inappropriately. To make matters worse, Andy’s real father shows up asking for money. But Andy’s new parents refuse to give up on him, and Andy must fight to save his soon-to-be-father’s reputation and his own chance at having a real family.