Parents' Guide to How It All Blew Up

HOW IT ALL BLEW UP begins in Interrogation Room 37 at a U.S. airport. A loud family argument on a flight from Italy to the United States is serious enough that 18-year-old Iranian American Amir Azadi, his parents, and 13-year-old sister get pulled apart and separated by flight attendants. As soon as the plane lands, their passports are taken, and they're now being questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers. The fight, Amir explains to an officer, had nothing to do with terrorism (he was not in Rome to join ISIS) and everything to do with the fact that he's gay and been afraid to come out to his parents. His story, he tells the officer, begins 10 months ago as he was starting his senior year at a new high school. The "buddy" assigned to show him around is a handsome football player who's also deep in the closet. They begin what they think is a secret relationship, but two students take a picture of them kissing and demand $1,000 not to tell Amir's parents. After he pays and tone of them demands even more before graduation, panicked Amir impulsively takes a plane to New York City and then to Rome. Alone and knowing no one, he's befriended by a bookstore clerk who introduces him to Jahan, a Persian/Dominican bartender/poet. It's not long before Amir becomes part of Jahan's group of young gay men who tutor him in Italian, introduce him into their world of poetry and art, and take him along to parties (some wild) and nights out at local bars. But after only a month, his family discovers his whereabouts and arrive to take him home -- and hope to repair their broken relationship.