I Only Cry with Emoticons is a story about the many superficial ways we connect in a world full of communication devices, and how one guy learns how to connect with the people he cares about in real life. Saul’s the kind of guy who hides in the bathroom at his high-tech day job in order to write a novel about his dead grandfather, and then he wonders why his boss wants to fire him. Saul tells his almost-ex-wife about a blind date and then wonders why she slams the door in his face. When Saul gets drunk and tells his new girlfriend that he wants her to meet his ex-wife, he doesn’t understand why his girlfriend leaves him. While Saul’s career and love life crumble, he tries not to let that mess up his precious relationship with his seven-year-old son, who’s more comfortable living with Saul’s ex and her new boyfriend. When the pieces of Saul’s life crash into each other, we find out if he can wake up and cobble together a more connected life, a life as a decent dad in a decent relationship, while still finishing that novel about his bankrupt, drunk grandfather who struggled with the very same things. I Only Cry with Emoticons is about the ways that we try to connect with each other in a time when we’re sometimes more connected to our devices than our friends and family.