Milton's Secret

Married couple Bill and Jane Adams are at a diverging point in their marriage. Bill, who is used to living the high life, is struggling at work as an investment broker, he losing clients. However he is still living in the past continuing like nothing wrong is happening, that past including spending on all the extravagances. Jane, a realtor, is trying to pick up the financial slack, not always with success, and thus is stressing out about their future and Bill's spending. Caught in the middle is their eleven year old son, Milton Adams, who can hear his parents arguing, without truly understanding the full context of those arguments. Not wanting to add to their woes, Milton does not want to tell them that he is being bullied by a classmate, their next door neighbor Carter Crane. While Carter is generally the tough guy anyway, this specific bullying only started when Milton witnessed something about his life that he didn't want anyone, let alone someone that knows him, to see. This total uncertainty that Milton is facing gets an added shot with the visit of his maternal Grandpa Howard. Recently widowed, Grandpa, especially in Jane's estimation, is going through a second mid-life crisis, which includes dating a younger woman named Dusty. As such, he generally is living solely for the here and now. His visit ends up having a profound effect on all the Adams', but especially Milton, who, like all his classmates, has to prepare a speech on the topic of his choice for parents' night at the school.