Edie is just trying to survive. She's messing up in her dead-end job, and her relationship with Eric - a white middle-aged archivist in an open marriage - is not uncomplicated. When she visits the suburban home Eric shares with his wife, Edie doesn't think she will be asked to stay, or asked to provide advice to their adopted black daughter. Least of all does Edie expect that there she will be given space to do the thing that means the most to her : to paint, to document on canvas her own life, finally.