Cassie Greenberg, a financially struggling artist, is being evicted from her apartment. She sees an advertisement on Craigslist for a room to rent for only $200 per month, in an area in Lincoln Park where rooms usually cost at least $1500 a month. She thinks there must be something horribly wrong with the apartment or the person renting it out. There are no photos with the ad, either. Sam, her best friend, offers to help her negotiate a month-to-month lease, as he’s a lawyer. Cassie declines to borrow money from Sam, and is also glad Sam and his husband Scott have a tiny condo with no room for her to move in with them, since she wants them to have their space as newlyweds. She also refuses to move in with Sam’s sister Amelia because she thinks Amelia judges her. She assures Sam she’ll be okay.

At her afternoon job at the library, Cassie works in the children’s department. Her other part-time job is at Gossamer’s, a hipster-style coffee shop that mostly caters to businesspeople. She prefers her job at the library because she gets to help children with art projects. After completing her MFA in visual art, she’s struggled to find a full-time job with her degree.