Annie Hill has finally escaped her ex-husband, Jason, a paranoid sociopath, but she and her two young ones have no money and no place to stay. She finds enough help to afford an apartment, but it is infested with roaches-and it's right above a domestic abuser.

Annie hates hearing what the man does to Alice, his girlfriend. Annie wants to move but can't afford it, and her attorney has advised her to stay put in order to demonstrate mental stability to the courts. But Annie calls the police on the abuser, whose attentions are now turned toward her.

As she copes with the family's new living arrangements, Annie tackles the problems of divorce court. Jason wants to retain all of their property and have full custody of their young children, something Annie cannot allow. But this is the 1970s and 1980s, and an antifeminist backlash is underway, destroying Annie's credibility in the eyes of the law. As the proceedings stretch from months into years, it seems no claim that Jason levels against Annie is too absurd to be taken seriously-and Annie has no idea how much danger her abusive neighbor poses to her and her daughter.