Despite being poor and from a broken home, carefree 8-year-old Paul is a happy and contented lad; that is until his mother marries The BEAST and then everything changes. What he doesn't know, is how to handle the ensuing abuse, neglect and violence. The next 40-plus years of his life constantly flips from black, dark periods of addiction and chaos, followed by white, light bursts of progress. What a disaster and waste - will alcoholism keep him in its vice-like grip? Paul wants to change the world and in particular improve the lives of disadvantaged people; it's a question of bottle - which will he choose - the one filled with courage or the one filled with booze?