Disowned in Prison, I Found New Family

Five years after cutting ties with his family, Mikey walks out of prison on the day his younger brother Hugo Strasser is being sworn in as a correctional officer. His parents wait outside, and the moment they see him, the awkwardness is thick. They insist he come home, reminding him that they had no choice when they asked him to take the blame for Hugo, and that he has nowhere else to go. Mikey pulls away. He tells them his real family is waiting for him.

His father's temper flares, and his mother pleads, but Mikey remembers what they have forgotten: he did nothing wrong. Because Hugo is bipolar, his parents believed Hugo had to be shielded from every consequence, so Mikey took the blame for each of his brother's misdeeds, until one final crime sent him to prison and his father's slap ruptured his eardrum. Now Hugo has a bright future, and Mikey is the felon brother who could ruin it.

As his parents drive off to collect Hugo, Mikey is left with the correctional officer Jared Beckham, who cannot understand how two brothers from one family ended up on such different paths.