Intro to excerpt:
ROSE HAMEL, 43, is a successful Los Angeles businesswoman and single mother of three children: JACK, 10, a precocious 4th grader, ZOEY, 19, a free-spirited UCLA English major with a flare for Shakespeare, and ZANDER, 21, a firefighter living with his girlfriend, EVA, 20. They live together on a shared property: Rose and Jack in the main house, Zander and Eva in a small backyard guest house and Zoey in a separate guest apartment behind Rose's house.
Rose's life takes an unexpected turn when she meets and falls in love with TOM GIBSON, 39, a film editor and gifted pianist. Rose feels she has finally met the love of her life.
However, Rose's kids are not keen on Tom, especially after Rose's failed marriage to NICK GRANT, 42, Jack's dad and a local plumber, and they do their best to sabotage Rose's relationship. But Tom is steadfast. He's committed to being with Rose. One evening Rose catches Zoey smoking pot with her boyfriend, MARCO, 20, a fellow student and small time pot dealer and half-heartedly reprimands her it. She considers it part of normal teenage rebellion. Rose notes, “We all get a little crazy in college.”
But soon Zoey's “rebellion” starts to become more extreme and her behavior progressively more paranoid and bizarre. As Zoey's undiagnosed mental illness begins to reveal itself, Rose's life and that of her family starts to unravel in ways they could never have imagined.
