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Through the eyes of 14-year-old Benjamin, and set over the course of a long, hot, Queensland summer, the Law family navigate a series of sometimes disastrous events which become memorable milestones, and serve as a reminder that at the end of the day family can sometimes feel more like a sentence than a choice.
2016
14-year-old Benjamin Law tries to mend his parents' broken marriage by encouraging his father Danny to be more engaged with the family through his end-of-year talent show, but with disastrous results.
The family is shocked to meet Candy’s secret boyfriend Wayne, and Benjamin puts it on himself to pull off the perfect Christmas lunch for the family. However, the turkey dinner offers up more than any of them planned.
Benjamin takes initiative, forcing the family into group therapy, which results in a weekend trip to the zoo with Danny that spirals out of control.
Benjamin seeks revenge on Andrew by giving Jenny the wrong idea about what to do for his eighteenth birthday party but no one foresees the impact that an innocent novelty erotic cake will have on the family forever.
Benjamin tries to cheer up his mother by inviting her best – and possibly only – friend from Malaysia, Aunty Rose. But when Rose reveals her true colours, Benjamin summons his siblings to save Jenny.
Worried about Jenny’s lack of enthusiasm towards her marriage, Benjamin instigates a performance to cheer her up, but this time, Danny and Jenny have a plan of their own.
Trystan Go
Benjamin Law
Fiona Choi
Jenny Law
Shuang Hu
Candy Law
Anthony Brandon Wong
Danny Law
George Zhao
Andrew Law
Karina Lee
Tammy Law
Vivian Wei
Michelle Law
Bethany Whitmore
Melissa
2017
After a summer to remember, Jenny and Danny have amicably parted ways, and a wiser, more mature Benjamin now understands that sometimes, parents just work better apart. After Jenny sees how well Danny is doing post-divorce, she overinvests in Benjamin’s campaign to become middle school captain but overshoots the mark, triggering a rupture in their relationship and unearthing uncomfortable truths about her place in the world.
As Jenny delves into the world of self-help, Benjamin auditions for the lead in the school production of Medea. Jenny, not being taken seriously, comes to blows with Danny over the realities of co-parenting.
After Benjamin discovers Danny in the arms of a new woman, he goes out of his way to help an oblivious Jenny find a new man, compromising his own ability to participate in play rehearsals.
After Candy and Wayne ask Benjamin to be their 'man of honour', he tasks himself with the job of delivering a perfect wedding. An unexpected gift from Wayne's parents, a property in Mt Isa, sets off a showdown between Candy and Jenny that could jeopardise everything. Wedding included.
After the family car breaks down, Jenny is forced to confront her lack of financial independence, and Benjamin and Melissa come to blows about his commitment to the play.
After Danny is hospitalised – buckling under the overwhelming pressures of running a business by himself, providing for his family and starting a new relationship – Jenny and Benjamin make discoveries that ensure the family Law will never be the same again.
2019
During a particularly harrowing sex ed module, Melissa and Benjamin excitedly scheme to get into a Year 12 party where there'll be booze and – more importantly for Melissa – boys. Despite his reservations, Benjamin tries to sweet-talk his parents into letting him go, but encounters a Jenny-shaped roadblock, insisting Benjamin is still too young for Aussie teen parties where drinking and fingering is abundant.
When Jenny rear-ends the car of a fellow parent at drop-off, she expect there'll be hell to pay. Instead, she's pleasantly surprised to discover the driver is handsome, confident, manly, and would like her number – not for insurance purposes. Later at school, Benjamin has a huffy encounter with Simmo, who now has his sights set on making Benjamin's school life a living misery.
Benjamin struggles with a crippling addiction to spying on Klaus pumping iron across the road, and is riddled with anxiety over what it means. So when Candy and Wayne announce over lunch that they’re taking everyone camping, Benjamin – to everyone’s horror – is a bundle of enthusiasm, seeing this as an opportunity to escape temptation.
With the big dance around the corner, Benjamin is pumped. He and Melissa have been workshopping matching outfits for years and finally have the chance to bring their vision to life. Except for one hitch: Melissa’s already got a date. Meanwhile, after seeing Pete at the shops, seemingly already happy with another woman, Jenny decides to put herself out on the market and takes up internet dating.
Benjamin wrestles with his feelings towards Klaus after a drama exercise with his handsome nemesis leaves him all tense in all the wrong places. Elsewhere, Jenny battles her own anxieties after Pete calls out of the blue to ask her out to dinner.
Aunty Maisy and Daisy crash Jenny's kitchen with a crisis: Maisy's son has come out and it's the end of her world. Benjamin overhears, and convinces himself that Jenny is homophobic. Resentful, he throws himself into the task of winning the upcoming talent quest while blocking his mother out, deciding now isn't the time to come out and that it may never be.
