In Salt Lake City, Denny, a 40-year-old Asian-American criminal, lives with his mother. While looking for company by mail, he meets Tess, a con artist who, along with her boyfriend Maury, plan to rob him. But nothing is what it seems.

Hippo, a peculiar adolescent, and his Hungarian step-sister Buttercup struggle to come of age in late 1990s America, under the roof of a mother who has been institutionalized at least once.

Storyline dealing with the late musician, David Bowie.