Life was hard for twelve-year-old Jesse Masterson now that both his parents were dead and he had his mentally ill older brother, Kelsey, to take care of, but he was determined to keep the promise he'd made to his father before the man passed away. Nothing mattered to him except making sure Kelsey had a place to stay because of his fear of the outside world and anything else he required. Sure, Kelsey had been violent at times, but that was just his addiction talking. Everything had gone back to normal a year before when Kelsey was forced into drug rehab after having beaten his little brother almost to death. Things were going well for the Masterson brothers, and Jesse was relieved to have the 'nice' side of Kelsey back, but the relief didn't last long. Kelsey got back on the cocaine, and in doing so he plunged both of the Masterson boys into a world that revolved around Jesse working the streets in an attempt to keep up with his brother's growing addiction and hang on to the things he'd promised to do for Kelsey's survival. Surely things can't get as bad as they were before ... after all blood is thicker than water, right?