When her mother makes a shocking request, sheltered Ava struggles with reality, escaping into a dream world where she summons up old friends and long forgotten desires.

The film explores the complexities and many paradoxes found within the frustrations, beauty and bewilderment of life. The story is a gradually unfolding spiritual crisis, juxtaposed through two central characters: a young child, full of curiosity and wonderment, and a hard-working, 32 year-old butcher struggling to begin his own family life. It ultimately exposes the harsh social difficulties in sustaining a modest, middle-class life within the contemporary American culture of systemic decay.

Following the death of her father, a 17-year-old girl is sent to live with her estranged family and finds comfort in a questionable friendship with a self-destructive neighbor, leading both on a startling path to self discovery.