Nicey hears her son, Riley, sobbing as he runs off the school bus. The other kids tell her that a teacher made the kids pair up and hold hands as they were waiting for the bus, but no one would hold Riley’s hand. Nicey goes to Riley, who is crying on the bed, and sees he’s gotten his fifth “write-up” of the year. He keeps crying, and she hears him whisper that he wishes he were dead. 

Nicey has been saving up for a new dryer for months––clothes are always hanging to dry outside. However, when she goes to the pawn shop the next day to pick up the dryer she’s put on hold, she buys a robot she’s had her eye on instead. She takes the bot, called Jibo, home and sets him up. When Riley comes home from school, he and Jibo immediately get along. As Jibo reads Riley a bedtime story, Nicey goes to wash and hang up his school uniform––her appliances are still broken, but her son is happier.