The main character of this story, John Hampton, twenty-eight, is a clinical social worker trying to make a living running a private practice out of the house bequeathed to him by his beloved maternal grandfather. To supplement his inconsistent income, he maintains his part-time job at the meat market, where he has worked since high school. His personal life is a mess, having been cuckolded, dumped, and subsequently divorced while in his early twenties following the death of his day-old son, his only child. He is estranged from his father and brother, and his mother died when he was thirteen. Hoping to meet new friends and hone his limited musical skills, he answers an ad to volunteer at a nearby fledgling group home for developmentally disabled adults. In this capacity he becomes embroiled in a myriad of organizational and personal complications, one of the most significant being managing a street-smart resident whose antics terrorizes the staff and the other clients. Although the group home endeavor eventually ends in a series of mishaps, deceits, and tragedies, Hampton perseveres, attempting to reconcile some of his private losses, in the process becoming a bit less isolated and cynical.