ojo is thirteen and trying to understand what it means to be a man. His mother, Leonie wants to be a better mother, but can't put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. When the children's father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives. Rich with Ward's lyrical language, this is a majestic new work that brings the archetypal road novel into rural twenty-first century America.