For nine-year-old Draper Doyle Ryan, life in St. John's is equal parts humour and heartbreak. He struggles with the mysterious death of his father, his budding adolescence, and the demands of his eccentric family.

The Ryans are devout Catholics; Draper is a die-hard Habs fan. Hockey is his passion, Saturday night his church service, Foster Hewitt his priest. When the Habs play the Leafs, his whole family gathers, turning what was never merely a game into an epic battle between the "true church" and the Protestants.