Joel Alessandro Nivola lives a solitary existence, rarely straying from his narrow routines of working in a landfill and going through the motions of getting through the day He faces emotional and psychological upheaval with the arrival of Will, his ten year old son whom he has never met The boy, who has been abandoned by his mother, weighs 250 pounds, is diabetic, and needs serious care attention Joel may not be capable of giving Their collective pain, in the face of an indifferent world, could be crushing Together, they embark on a journey of survival