 In one day, lives can change. The town of Borland, Texas is one of America s hybrid industrial towns, experiencing economic hardship due to the loss of jobs that have defined what Borland is about. One early autumn day, the lives of some of the inhabitants of this small American town are changed. The Stakes family is a middle-income family suffering the effects of Borland s economic hardship. Robert and Felicia Stakes own their own printing shop, but are forced to shut down their business. The situation is further complicated by Felicia s torn heart between the man she married and the man she loves, a carpenter by the name of James. The evolution of their relationship is further compromised by James  sudden plan to relocate his business. His desire to take Felicia with him places her in a precarious decision to either continue the unhappy life she s been enduring or take a chance at happiness with the man she truly wants to be with. Jacob and Nathan are the sons of Robert and Felicia. Nathan is the younger son, whose day illness imprisons him to the house, so he watches curiously from the window the events that transpire outside. Jacob is a college student ready to return to the university. His life is dictated by his relationships with his best friend and the girl he has developed feelings for. The direction of his life depends on the evolution of these two relationships. The Collins family is one of the more stable families in Borland. Rebecca and Evan Collins own their own cleaning business but have not been affected by the economic hardship of Borland. Their wealth affords them to chair Borland s annual parade. Plans are unexpectedly changed, however, when Rebecca s sister, Patricia, loses her young son Koston while walking the streets of town. The search for Koston unites them, but in the process, another tragedy that has befallen one of their children is discovered. Squito Collins is the son of Rebecca and Evan. His state of being rests on the amount of dank (cigarettes with formaldehyde solution) he smokes and on the feeling that his life is adrift. His parents, college and his relationship with a local girl haven t provided him with what he s looking for. It s only with his best friend, Jacob, does he feel some purpose. But that all changes when they both develop feelings for the same girl. The other townspeople of Borland include Alexandra, the employee of the Stakes  printing shop. She is an old maid in-the-making, whose only reason for life is to take care of her ailing father. Brianna Richards is the all-American girl who becomes intertwined between the emotions of two best friends, Squito and Jacob. Her friend Sarah wants love and thought she found it with Squito, but circumstances prevent them from being together. Borland reflects what life can hold on any given day for anybody living in any American town.