At twelve-going-on-thirteen, Jude Hogan has his problems. After witnessing the tragedy that threatens to tear his parents apart, the situation at home is badly torn and perhaps beyond repair. Jude feels powerless to remedy what is at once strange and familiar.

With his mom away and his dad barely holding things down at home, Jude is left alone to the all-too-familiar Winnipeg neighborhood streets and alleys, and what he discovers there will reshape the elements of his life.