Half-life

The geography of Adam Westman's life changes dramatically in the two weeks before his high school graduation. True, many of the familiar landmarks are still there when he looks for them; his best friend Dart riding shotgun; the suburban house where he lives with his melancholy dad and younger sister, Sandra; the on-ramps and off-ramps that connect his hometown of Angelito to Los Angeles's endless maze of freeways. But when death and love arrive at once and unexpectedly - as they often do - Adam learns that trouble sometimes has to rumble through a tidy world in order to make room for miracles. Which isn't to say that miracles are such a big deal. For the characters whose lives intersect in Half-Life, the miraculous appears in the jumble of everyday details. Adam's emotionally distant mother finds herself drawn into the arc of family through the simple act of making a salad. Marc, Adam's stepdad, learns the subtle art of conversation as he shuttles Sandra to and from elementary school. Jeff, a handsome cop, decides to tale a risk and discovers in 18-year-old Adam the kind of openness and sincerity he thought other men no longer wanted.