Set in New York City’s turbulent 60s, Jus Breathe is the story of Dawn Porter, who has spent her life doing two things:

• Seeking the ethereal music that once wafted through her grandparent's warm, loving dwelling
• Leaving.

“Look at her!” her daddy had slurred. “She ain’t mine. You had the nerve to name her Dawn. You shudda named her Midnight!” Then he was gone....for good. She was five. In time, Dawn came to appreciate Daddy’s lesson. "Leaving time" became her resilient superpower. Daddy was gone but his words never left and they certainly didn’t leave her alone. In the wake of those words, a midnight ugly black duckling creature had appeared in the mirror to mock her and control her ability to breathe.

Years later, Dawn, a survivor, flees her stepfather's violent, discordant home. Living like a nomad, Dawn embarks on a journey to find the ethereal music that will make her whole. While struggling to stay in college, Dawn perfects sofa-surfing and hones her ability to walk away whenever the inevitable "leaving time" rolled around. But in the mist of the chaotic uprising that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, serendipity spins Dawn into beautiful Danny’s rollercoaster world.

Dawn is convinced that Danny will bring the ethereal music, banish the duckling, and make her whole. Now toxically in love, Dawn finds herself trapped in Danny's menacing dominance, trapped in the sensual pull of him, in the very scent of him. In time, she realizes that if she is to survive, she must reclaim her superpower and leave. But that duckling, who has grown stronger, who has allied with Danny, who threatens to squeeze the life-breath from her if she tries to leave, that ugly black creature in the mirror...she has to kill.