John and Sarah Manley have been separated for over six months. John has his own apartment but has tried not to disrupt his children's lives, so he has daily meals and spends every weekend in the family home, but overnights in his own apartment. The children, Max, 7, and Claire, 4, can't quite figure out what's going on, but they handle their worry and confusion by acting out with anger, backtalk, fighting and tantrums. A simple trip to the grocery store is so fraught with the kids' antics that Sarah cannot keep track of their whereabouts, and shoppers won't even go down the same aisle as the Manleys. Sarah finds it hard to hold her ground in the power struggle with her kids, partly because she's nearly as confused as they are about the state of her marriage.