Nina always thought her mother Alice was the most proper woman alive-an uptight, cardigan-wearing high school French teacher who never cussed and never did anything wild, except maybe going to a sperm bank to have Nina on her own. When Alice is informed this is the last year the school will offer French, they're both confident she'll land another teaching position. But on the last day of school, that still hasn't happened. They're storing years of personal teaching materials in the garage when a taxi pulls up. Out steps Jack-Alice's long-lost, long-haired, pot-smoking father from her chaotic youth.
As Alice tries to keep Jack at arm's length, the past starts bleeding into the present-and then the future threatens to collapse. A bank notice reveals her neighborhood is being gutted by corporate takeovers and plummeting property values. Alice was depending on her home equity to carry them over until she gets a new job. With nothing left to lose, Alice-armed with Jack's protest signs and Nina's wide-eyed support-takes a stand.
What begins as a one-woman sit-in turns into a grassroots movement, fueled by unlikely alliances and old-school rebellion. In a world where everything seems designed to keep people small and quiet, Alice is about to learn how loud she can be.