After Ed Garrison's family falls apart, he finds himself alone in
Northern California, burying his feelings in sports, writing, and
romance. Sidelined by failure and betrayal, Ed realizes the only place
to pick up the pieces is back home.
Ed Garrison has it all--a successful basketball career, a great
relationship with his kid brother, the best dog a guy could ask for, and
a supportive family. With summer vacation being the only thing standing
between him and a full-ride scholarship to Berkeley, Ed feels
invincible.
But everything falls apart as high school comes to an end and his mother
suddenly leaves his father for a woman three thousand miles away,
leaving behind a broken home in the wake of her absence and betrayal. Ed
feels helpless as his humiliated father turns to liquor and work and his
brother throws away his future for illegal substances and crime. Not
even the dog stuck around to watch.
Soon, Ed is lashing out too: he turns down his scholarship in favor of
attending a small school in Northern California and alienates himself
from his fractured family to start a new life of his own. Alone and
confused, Ed switches his major to journalism, trains for a marathon,
and adopts a puppy, all in attempts to fill an unexplainable void in his
life. But as the years pass and this new chapter is also riddled with
distrust and regret, he fails to maintain the relationships that matter
the most. Ed has no choice but to reckon with his past mistakes as his
dreams of a basketball career are shattered and his family continues to
crumble.
