Documentary which explores how fathers and their children cope with the loss of a mother after being abandoned or bereaved. Three families are followed over the course of a year. Carl lives with his disabled teenage daughter, Naomi, who's taking her dad into new territory as she enters puberty. Kelly leaves John and her three children for a lover after 12 years, and John is left in sole charge of the kids. Piers's wife Marilyn dies soon after giving birth to their second child William Elvis.