From the moment Jimmy Burdett first informed his parents that he was gay, until his death from AIDS more than ten years later, the Burdett family found itself trapped in a long, contorted odyssey which threatened their basic family fabric. In parallel with the pathology of his illness, the Burdetts soon discovered that their private battlefield was also strewn with the debris of moral rejection, social misunderstanding, and medical controversy.

The story ends (if we can define the end) with Jim=s parents left to assess a large chunk of their lives and reassemble what was left.