A comic and deeply emotional story of a struggling blue collar family, which flashes backward and forward in time as the lives of its characters are revealed. There are fantasy musical numbers with Roy Orbison, characters come back from the dead to tempt the living; Coffee and Cigarette, the twin addictions of the emotionally scarred parents, are brought to life as living breathing figures to Frankie, their dying young son with Down's Syndrome, who in turn, is brought to further life by his healthy alter-ego and constant companion, Francis. It is ultimately a story of unyielding family love.