Feeling a void in their marriage, Pete and Ellie Wagner visit a foster-care center. Two social workers, Karen and Sharon, guide the hopeful parents on the path to becoming adoptive parents. The couples are taken to a fair where they have the chance to go up to kids that they are interested in adopting. Pete and Ellie walk by the teenagers; although Ellie shows hesitance, one teen, Lizzy, informs Ellie that they all know that nobody wants to adopt teenagers. Pete and Ellie talk to Karen and Sharon over potentially taking in Lizzy. The social workers inform the couple that Lizzy's mother is a drug addict who is currently in jail, and she set their house on fire by leaving her crack pipe lit. They also find that Lizzy has two younger siblings, Juan and Lita. Although this seems like more of a challenge for Pete and Ellie, they agree to meet the siblings. Pete and Ellie have Thanksgiving dinner with Ellie's family, who all remark that they have no confidence that the Wagners would be good adoptive parents, until Ellie has enough and decides that they will go through with the foster care to prove that they can be good parents.