In the small-town summer of 2002, twelve-year- old Nina wakes to the sound of daily domestic arguments, the surprise visit of her first period and the unnerving thud heard from the army base at noon each day. Nina fleetingly finds an antidote to her growing sense of abandonment through her companionship with her trusty goldfish, Lucy, and her rapport with the newcomer in the neighbourhood; Andrea. Nina befriends 10yr-old Andrea and decides to take her under her wing.Though Nina tries to safeguard Andrea from her unstable father, she soon discovers that perhaps she filled her childhood summer with a task that’s too great to handle. As the girls’ friendship progresses,and Nina’s parents seem to be disappearing further and further into their jobs, financial worries and church friends - Nina finds herself unable to communicate or navigate her adolescent angst as she battles the pressures of puberty and takes on the emotional strain of Andrea’s hellish home situation.