After being told he has one year to live, Jack Lamont's biggest regret was not getting married, when he had the chance. Jack agrees to allow Mike the bartender to help him advertise for a pretend family so Jack can experience what having a wife and kids is like before he dies. According to the bartender, Jack's perfect pretend family should be easy to find by advertising on the Internet.

Mary, a widow with young children, sees an opportunity to give her kids a home and possibly some money for their college education. What does she have to lose? The relationship is to remain platonic. Mary responds to Jack's advertisement.

After learning family life is nothing like what he had imagined, nor is toying with other people's lives. Feeling obligated to make amends to all those he hurt, Jack seeks help from the only person who appears to know Jack well. An aging psychic, on her deathbed, gives Jack the one thing he needs. A glimmer of hope that his life has not been a total waste. Jack simply needs to find the answer to his own individual life's riddle. A riddle that requires his death to solve.