the mom of the cimorellis, lynne, dies from an unknown reason. the dad, mike sr, goes insane, drinks a lot, and does drugs. when something happens the older cimorelli kids (mike jr, christina, katherine, lisa, and amy) go to court and try to win custody of their siblings under the age of 18 (alex, lauren, dani, christian, nick and joey) The judge sees the older siblings as unfit to be legal gaurdians. alex, christian, nick and joey are sent to a boys home right next door to the girls home where lauren and dani were sent. the youngers kids go through a lot there and the older kids have a hard time trying to make themselfs fit to be a legal gaurdian.