Now two years sober, 32-year-old Shane Hall is trying to figure out life while not under the influence. All his major accomplishments—everything he’s written, every award he’s won—happened while he was drunk. Now, he is trying to navigate life healthy and functional. Since he is not getting any writing done, he has turned to teaching creative writing to elite students. In every city he goes to, however, he also goes to the worst school in the worst neighborhood and offers any service he can—anything to help those students.

Shane is now in Providence, Rhode Island, trying to help students in one of those “worst schools.” He’s taken particular interest in a boy named Ty, who reminds Shane of himself. Shane encourages him to keep his head down and out of trouble, and he tries to teach Ty that it’s okay to care about things. Ty needs to work hard, graduate, and get out of the city; this school wasn’t made for him to succeed, but no one will save him.

Because Shane knows that Ty likes astronomy,  Shane encourages him to list off the planets, as a kind of mantra—something to repeat when he is angry, to calm himself down.