Jim Arnaud, a police officer in a Texas town, always tries to do the right thing, but he has more often than not done the wrong thing resulting in having a less than perfect life. He often tries to plan his actions whenever he can, but his impetuous nature and hot-temperedness often makes him do something else he didn't plan, while he also does not have the best gauge of what is socially acceptable or what is standard social convention. In that imperfect life, he didn't have the best relationship with his dancer/dance teacher mother, as didn't his two siblings. He and his wife Ros have been separated for a year now on her initiative, which has resulted in him only seeing their now nine year old daughter Crystal on the weekends. And many of his fellow officers only tolerate him, including the police chief, with his married partner, Nate Lewis, looking out for him as much as he can do so. Two events have the potential to unravel Jim's life even further. First, his mother passes away. He still wants to do right by her even after death, and by association wants even more to do right for Crystal in having that parent-offspring relationship he didn't have with his mother. And second, Ros not only files for divorce, but in planning on moving out of town with her current boyfriend Chris, petitions for full custody of Crystal.