Twelve Steps Back

In a courtyard in Yorkville, Manhattan, a group of alcoholics in varying stages of recovery meet once a week. During the months leading up to Sadie’s sixteenth birthday (and, she hopes, imminent emancipation), each member of the group wrestles with a recent change in their life: Lauren’s new in town and new at her job, Teddy’s speaking to his ex-wife and former reality TV show co-star again, Josh nearly found himself on the J train tracks the other night after a bad phone call, Claire’s back on pills but isn’t telling anyone except her party-girl roommate, and Dani, who, from what everyone knows, has been single and not pregnant for the past few months, shows up one day and informs everyone she’s just had a baby. Plus, Sadie’s determined to rack up arrests before she becomes an adult, no matter how not-fun Lauren makes jail seem. Time goes on, the group members get more or less sober, and everyone discovers that it takes a fucked-up village to raise a kid or two. And that addiction is, maybe, a little bit, a laughing matter.