Eric Newman's soft brown hair is scattered all over his pillow. What hair is left on his head is clumped in random patches. 

"My hair's gonna grow back." the winsome 3-year-old brags. "But my daddy's won't."

He giggles at the family joke, but Eric's reference to his dad's barely discernable bald spot is poignant. It hints of his family's way of coping with a tragic reality.
Eric has cancer. 

This realization is still too fresh for Dan and Donna Newman to accept without relying on a few contrived crutches - like the baldness joke. One of the side effects of the medicine Eric takes to kill the cancer cells in his body causes his hair to fall out. But it's side effect with which Eric and his family can cope. Before the discovery last...