- When their daughter gets accepted to a prestigious music school and leaves them with the added burden of their comatose son, Nancy and Frank Hall struggle to maintain a sense of family.
- River Hall tends to her comatose older brother, Sam, in their shared cramped, threadbare, late 80s style bedroom. She works through his daily exercises while discussing her future plans to pursue music. She moves on to watering the lush plants around the room, a ladybug resting on one of their leaves, as the sound of their mother, Nancy, coming home can be heard through the walls. Within moments Nancy and her husband Frank are arguing, drawing River out of the room.
At night, River is reading, and once again the sound of Nancy and Frank's arguing fills the room to join the noises of the apartment neighbors and the busy street outside. As the sound of Nancy sobbing picks up, River begins to play her violin. A calm falls over the apartment, the building, the street outside. Only music can be heard, until River makes a mistake and the discordant atmospheric noises rush back in.
The next day, while River is at her music school audition, Nancy rushes through Sam's daily exercises before leaving for work. During a rare moment of quiet in the bedroom the ladybug flits about until it is startled by Frank's arrival in the room. He reflects for a moment on Sam's condition before half-heartedly throwing a baseball to him, which rolls off the bed and onto the ground. Some time later, Nancy and Frank help River pack and then take her things down to the waiting cab. She is getting ready to leave for school. River approaches Sam, the bedroom in a state of disarray and the plants looking slightly withered, to say her final goodbye. She tells Sam to give her a sign and she will stay, but no sign comes. After she is gone, a tear can be seen falling from Sam's eye.
Time passes again, before Nancy is seen going through Sam's routine again. She takes a moment to reflect upon the state of the family and what she wanted from life, losing track of time Nancy realizes she is late for work and rushes from the room. Later, Frank comes into the room to continue Sam's care but his injured leg gives out, causing him to spill all of the feeding formula. In a fit Frank throws the baseball across the room, shattering the family portrait. Frank leaves to get more formula, and when Nancy arrives back home she finds the mess that Frank left. The moment Frank gets back home another argument explodes between him and Nancy, fed up Nancy decides to leave for good. Later still, Frank can be heard beyond the walls of Sam's room drinking and watching family home videos. Moments pass, before Frank drags his television set up into the bedroom. A drunk and distraught Frank talks to Sam about how he believes they're both survivors and that Sam just needs motivation, before he disconnects Sam's feeding tube. Frank sits in a chair next to Sam's bed, surrounded by now withered plants, watching old family movies, while a ladybug flies away through the open window.
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