During a week-long suspension from school, a teenage transplant to impoverished rural Indiana searches for a job, the whereabouts of his vanished drug-addicted guardian, and meaning in the America of the Trump years.

Seventeen-year-old Riggle is living in rural Indiana with his uncle and uncle’s girlfriend after the death of his parents. Now his uncle is missing, probably on a drug binge. It’s Monday, and $800 in rent is due Friday. Riggle, who’s been suspended from school, has to either find his uncle or get the money together himself. His mission exposes him to a motley group of Opioid locals --- encounters by turns perplexing, harrowing and heartening.

With empathy and insight, Carr explores what it’s like to be a high school kid in the age of Trump --- a time of economic inequality, addiction, Confederate flags,and mass shootings. Through the voice of its unforgettable protagonist --- charismatic, confused, searching, by turns cynical and naïve, wise and impulsive --- OPIOID, INDIANA pierces to the heart of our moment.