Thirteen year-old Oliver Nicholas is well-poised to enter the precocious teenage world of sex, vodka and possible love in New York City. For the last decade his housekeeper has served as the only parental figure in his life, while his free spirited mother partied and lived irresponsibly. When his beloved housekeeper suffers a stroke his mother is suddenly forced to be a parent as her son rebels against authority and tries to understand his complicated feelings of loss, fear and guilt.