Add to the mix a reality show whose director forces them to keep signing and notarizing applications for a wedding license until the cameraman gets a shot she likes; a family marriage history that includes adulterers, arms smugglers, and poisoners; and discussions of civil rights, Sophocles, racism, grammar, and homemade Ouija boards--coupled with Derfner's gift for getting in his own way--and what results is a story not just of gay marriage and the American family but of what it means to be human.