Whisked from a child's cozy life in Queens to the streets of Manhattan, clutching the hand of her intense and troubled mother, Justine begins a journey over which she has little control. Along with her two older brothers, she finds herself wrapped in a fantasy-fueled odyssey engineered by her mother, spending nights in cheap hotels they can't afford, or park benches and subway trains, always on the lookout for food. Meanwhile, her father looms in the distance with his new family, ineffectual--until at long last he takes life-altering action. Gracefully rendered and by turns tender and tough, Scattered haunts us with its truth, humor and keen sensibility?while never letting us forget that it is love that draws us all back.