Alice O'Connor is ready to leave New York and give up on her dream of becoming a writer when her mother drops a bombshell: Alice's idol, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Bram Shepherd, is her dad. When idealistic Alice goes to see Bram, she finds he's not the man she hoped he'd be. In fact, as Molina describes him, he's ""venal, self-centered...and greedy,"" with ""no interest in fatherhood.""

Alice moves in with Bram, and when things do not go as smoothly as hoped. Bram takes out his frustrations on her cat.