 A man s face is visible in his bubble bath. He s Brian, thinking back to when he was five and his Chatty Cathy Halloween doll disappeared. The reverie becomes a meditation on his relationship with his mother, an acerbic, unhappy, wickedly profane character, abandoned by the lad s father. After dad leaves, mom chain smokes and develops emphysema. At 16, Brian sets out to lose his virginity; at his return at 4 a.m., mom confronts him. Once an adult, Brian calls her on rare occasions, and she sometimes calls him. Sons and mothers: is it love despite the spite?