Cheryl—single, childless, same job for 20 years, living alone, repressed/depressed but sort of dealing with it—is coasting into middle age. Her semi-comfortable holding pattern of a life involves quite a deal of consolatory fantasy, fed by dregs of futile romantic optimism, whose main object is the remote and father-figureish (and rather nasty) Phillip. So when 21y.o. Clee—pink chalk to Cheryl’s old cheese (though it’s Clee who actually smells bad)—moves in, very unwelcomely, things are maybe going to get complicated, interesting, worse, better… And they do, a lot! MJ’s signature mix of astute observation and stylistic quirk tells the story perfectly.