Twelve-year-old Mikal grows up in a run-down hotel room, caught between love for his parents and the shadow of addiction, while his story reveals a hidden crisis in America. An intimate film that continues to resonate.

Mikal (12) was born and raised in a run-down hotel room that he shares with his parents, who both struggle with addiction. Mikal’s greatest wish is for his mother and father to stop drinking. But what does it take to really make someone change? Due to the ongoing housing crisis in the United States, many people are forced to live in run-down hotels, also known as flophouses. Twelve-year-old Mikal shares a small, cheap room in such a hotel with his parents, Jason and Tonya, and their cat, Smokey. Their home is characterized by chaos and alcohol abuse, but also by love and the hope for a better future.

Photographer Monica Strømdahl traveled across the US for years to document life in these hotels. Eight years ago, she met Mikal – one of the many children growing up in these circumstances. In this coming-of-age documentary, she follows him for three years, and shows both the pain of a broken childhood and the warmth and complexity of family.