Succotash Express

It has been four years since Billy Slater last saw his father. The messy breakup of his family left him with a crippling sense of loss and abandonment. All his overbearing mother would tell him was that their breakup was his father's fault. The growing anger inside cost him his friends, and his grades plummeted. Even with therapy, he had difficulty moving forward.

Finally, after a dismal start to his senior year of high school, he dropped out. His mother told him he needed a positive male influence, and on her advice, he moved from Richmond, Virginia, to rural Northeastern Pennsylvania to work at a diner owned by Tom and Arlene Thompson, former Christian neighbors.

Living with the Thompsons was a good respite, but Billy wanted nothing to do with their faith. After a year and a half, he thought he had put his issues behind him, until Arlene innocently told him that life was made up of small and large regrets and a few great things that made life worth living.

As Billy thought about it, he realized that the sum of his life was all regrets, and the anger, sense of abandonment, and bitterness toward his father came rushing back. Billy realized he hadn't dealt with his issues at all. He had to get to the bottom of what had come between his parents. Everyone told him he had to find his father and get his side of the story.

When Billy finally went to see him, he found out nothing was as it seemed. This revelation emboldened him to take matters into his own hands to get even with both of his parents. He knew that what he had planned would either be an epic success or an epic failure. What he could not foresee was how it would play out in his family.

What he also could not foresee was how things were changing at the diner, from the addition of the odd new waitress with a troubled past to an unexpected opportunity and changes for the Thompsons themselves. But the biggest change of all was about to happen in Billy.