In the 1970s, Joe Fine, a American Jews businessman from Brooklyn, New York City, moves his wife Stella and his two daughters, Natalie and Maddie to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he has relocated his textile factory, in order to try to save it due to the decline of the textile industry.<ref name="rotten"/> The cost of living is lower in the South and he can avoid travel, but he proceeds to live beyond his means including large extravagances. When a big investor decides to pull out of the deal,<ref name="rotten"/> he takes a loan from the local mob. Joe has always suffered from anger management issues, but now stress is leading to depression and emotionally lashing out at his wife and daughters. He sees a psychologist upon his wife's urging, but he assures him that he is fine and his wife must be unduly concerned, because she is a Holocaust survivor. However, after he attempts to commit suicide, his wife pushes the panic button that Joe himself had installed, the police come and send him to a psychiatric hospital to deal with his anxiety disorder. Meanwhile, his younger daughter Natalie, who is the narrator of the story and suffers from a fear of public speaking, slowly learns to move on, and wins a US$500-poetry competition sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company. Eventually, she sees her father again when he has recovered from stress.
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