Augusten Burroughs' mother, Deirdre, who wishes to become a famous poet, has severe mood swings and erratic behavior. Augusten's alcoholic father, Norman, proves to be of no help. By the time he is a teenager, Norman has moved out and Deirdre sends Augusten to live with her psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, who becomes his legal guardian. Dr. Finch is the eccentric patriarch of an oddball family, which consists of his submissive wife Agnes, religious older daughter Hope, and his rebellious younger daughter Natalie, who is slightly older than Augusten. Augusten finds it hard to adjust to living with the Finches and the irregular weekend visits home with his increasingly unsound mother. After confessing to Natalie that he is gay, Augusten befriends Neil Bookman, Finch's patient and adopted 33-year-old son. The two begin an erratic sexual relationship quickly after meeting; Augusten is 14 at the time. Consistent with a
confidence game seen with the family of Neil—and with a 41-year-old patient who abused Natalie, and with young adult patient Dorothy Ambrose—Dr. Finch manipulates Deirdre into signing over her child support money to him. By the time of Augusten's 15th birthday, Deirdre has established a relationship with her living companion Dorothy ("I've always wanted a daughter"), leaving Augusten feeling like his mother no longer wants him, while also dealing with the negative effects of Neil's
schizophrenia and Dorothy's animosity. A few years later, the still-teenaged Augusten leaves for New York to become a writer. He says goodbye to his mother and goes to the bus station. Agnes, with whom he has developed a caring relationship, arrives and gives him the money she has saved. In a mid-credits vignette, it is shown that Dr. Finch lost his license due to insurance fraud and died in 2000, Agnes went to work in a nursing home, Natalie earned a degree in psychology, Hope worked with her dad until his death, Norman re-established contact with Augusten before he died in 2005, Deirdre remains estranged from her son, Neil was never heard from again, and Augusten (the real Augusten, seen onscreen sitting beside the actor playing Augusten) wrote a book. ==Cast==