Overview

The Bronx. It's America at its most vibrant and chaotic; it's also where one foster care caseworker—a would-be white savior from New England, a twentysomething kid prematurely jaded by the system—takes it upon himself to reunify a troubled birthmother with her children, against the recommendation of his world-weary but wise Hispanic boss. (Nevermind the fact that the mother in question just might have a crush on him—either that, or she's running game for her own purposes. And nevermind the fact that her ex-husband, a serial abuser whose casefile's thick with bruises, just might have killed someone to protect her in the past—and might be willing to do so again.) What follows is a vivid portrait of lives intersecting and colliding as they grapple with timeless issues: poverty and privilege, parenting and responsibility, drug abuse and insanity.
As gritty as a cracked city street, as full of light and shadow as a crumbling row...