Sitting at the dining-room table, Janet and Laurel talk to us about their friendship's evolution in the midst of a threatening situation; Janet is an abused woman. They tell the story of Janet's isolation, the fear that even Laurel felt, and the process of Laurel dealing with this new, scary and intolerable circumstance. Janet and Laurel had reached an alien frontier in their relationship. And Laurel set new boundaries, in support of a friend in danger. When all is said and done, she's there for Janet.

Uncle Bob is getting up in years, but manages quite well, thank you. Then an unexpected illness changes everything. Suddenly he's scooped out of his safe and familiar surroundings and deposited inside the foreign and chaotic world of the hospital. Here the once self-reliant Uncle Bob becomes vulnerable and dependent.