Work, family, relationships, deadlines, terrorism, information overload... When modern life is getting crazier and crazier, day by day, who wouldn't think about getting out? Leaving it all behind? Wouldn't that be the only sane response to this mad world? "Asylum Seekers" is about escapism, about feeling the pressure and deciding on a radical solution. Our six characters can't take their various stresses any more and are heading for the door marked EXIT. It leads to a deluxe, exclusive, luxuriously-appointed mental asylum, an adult funfair where they can let it all go and be waited on hand and foot for the rest of their carefree lives. Or so it seems... The first twist is that there are limited places. Only one free bed remains. The competition is on. And there are many other surprises lying in wait for the unwary, would-be-insane patient... The ride out of the world they know has only just begun!

In 1975, San Fernando Valley teen Joan Larkin reinvents herself as Joan Jett, a guitarist who wants to form an all-girl punk band. She pitches the idea to a sleazy manager, Kim Fowley, who pairs her with a drummer and then searches for a face: he finds Cherie Currie, at 15 the perfect jailbait image for his purpose; by luck, she can sing. Two others round out the band, "The Runaways." Fowley books a tour, signs them to Mercury Records, and packs them off to crowds in Japan. Seeds of conflict sprout early: Fowley puts Cherie front and center in the publicity, she's soon strung out on pills and vodka, and jealousies arise. Without adult supervision, where can Joan and Cherie end up?

Southern Californian Bree Osbourne, who was formerly Stanley Chupak, has finally received the news for which she has been waiting: she has been approved for male-to-female sexual reassignment surgery. But before Margaret, her therapist, will allow her to go through with the surgery scheduled in a week's time, Bree has to deal with an unresolved issue from her past. Bree got a telephone call from a seventeen year old man named Toby Wilkins, who was looking for Stanley, his biological father. Toby is in a New York jail, he who supports himself by petty crime and hustling. Stanley/Bree knew nothing about Toby before the telephone call. Toby apparently is all alone in the world, with his mother having committed suicide and being estranged from his stepfather in Tennessee. Masquerading as a Christian social worker, Bree, not telling him either of her true identity or her transgendered status...