Janet is an elegant American woman in her sixties whose daughter, Sarah, is the star of the latest Nasa shuttle mission. Janet has three children in all: Sarah, Wade, and Bryan; and a greying ex-husband, Ted. At least, that's the family at a glance; a healthy example of the all-American average. But look again and you'll find that Janet, Wade and Julie all have AIDS; that Bryan is a suicidal manic-depressive whose girlfriend is pregnant, and that Wade isn't keen to talk to his father after Ted shot him in the stomach a while back. Well, Wade had picked up Ted's mistress in a bar, after all...Needless to say, nobody's looking forward to getting together to see Sarah off into space at her special farewell banquet...