Faced with being expelled from high school, seventeen-year-old Emma Marks decides to quit instead. This impulsive act -- which she views as a mistake, like most decisions she makes -- increases her already strong feelings of depression, shame, and stress. With an anxiety ridden mother at home and a distant father on the road, Emma turns to her "inner circle" for support, but finds there is one short-term cure for her troubles: drinking. Filled with self-hate and feeling that her life is in ruins, she is then betrayed by one of her friends. Despondent, Emma makes another snap wrong judgment and tries to take her own life. Upon recovery from her suicide attempt, she leaves her small town of Hinckley Minnesota for St Paul where she joins an intensive group therapy program for adolescents. It is there she learns Acceptance Commitment Therapy. She also meets Blaze, who seems as broken as she is. In trying to help Blaze, Emma believes she can live her values of caring, courage and love. Can Emma do the hard work to live in her values and overcome her alcoholism or will she be a loser in life's emotional slot machine? Patrick Jones is the author of over forty books for young adults including Things Change, Nailed, Stolen Car, and Clicked.