Just released from prison after an eighteen-year stint for murder, Miri Matteson has returned to her parents’ home in the small town where she grew up, and where the crime occurred. Despite being surrounded by reminders of her past, and hostility from her community, she tries to remain optimistic and forge a real adult life.
Miri’s childhood friend Mandy was also close to the murder victim, which could help explain why she never contacted or came to visit Miri in prison. Now that Miri is home Mandy wants to reestablish a connection, but Miri is understandably wary.
Miri’s reserved father is conflict-averse, like most proper British men of his generation, so Miri’s arrival home is quite unsettling to him. He often seems more interested in saving the planet than he is in saving his own marriage.
Miri’s brittle, uptight mother appears to care more about what the community thinks than about the well-being of her own daughter. She is an angry, sexually frustrated woman who acts out in many self-destructive ways.
Miri’s over-sharing parole officer is a harried bureaucrat who just wants to rubber stamp Miri through the process, even when Miri reaches out to her for help.