A 12-year-old boy, his older brother and their father have won the war: the father’s term for his bitter divorce and custody battle. They leave their Kansas home and drive through the night to Albuquerque, eager to begin again, united by the thrilling possibility of carving out a new life together. The boys go to school, join basketball teams and make friends. Meanwhile, their father works from home, smoking cheap cigars to hide another smell. But soon the little missteps --- the dead-eyed absentmindedness, the late night noises, the comings and goings of increasingly odd characters --- become worrisome, and the boys find themselves watching their father change, grow erratic, then dangerous.