The story of how a boy was abandoned by his mother and how he later abandoned her. The year he`ll be 14 the parents of Augusten Burroughs (1965- ) divorce and his mother who thinks of herself as a fine poet on the verge of fame delivers him to the eccentric household of her psychiatrist Dr. Finch. During that year Augusten avoids school keeps a journal and practices cosmetology. His mother`s mental illness worsens he takes an older lover he finds friendship with Finch`s younger daughter and he`s the occasional recipient of gifts from an unlikely benefactor. Can he survive to come of age?