A son tells a series of stories, most of them about his father and stepfather. As the son describes a robbery that took place at his house in high school and his experiences with his father, a former Jehovah's Witness and current alcoholic, he begins to recall details from his childhood.

In a Tucson, Arizona of the near future, an Asian American engineer races to salvage her prized creation, a stratosphere-orbiting balloon, before it can be hijacked to serve nefarious purposes.