Sausalito becomes the Sheff family’s home after they rent a house there to gain a backyard. The town provides the setting for an early period of shared domestic life among David Sheff, Karen Barbour, and Nic Sheff, while daily routines continue to connect it to San Francisco.

The House and Its Setting

The family’s house is reputed to be one of Sausalito’s oldest: a rickety, leaky Victorian that is only slightly warmer inside than outside. Fires burn in the fireplace, and the family piles on heavy quilts at night. The discomfort is part of the place’s texture, not an obstacle that keeps them indoors; bundled in down jackets, they go tide-pooling along the shore.

Family Life and Connection to San Francisco

Sausalito is both a home base and a point of passage. The family rides the ferry across the bay, past Alcatraz Island, to San Francisco, and carpools with another family so Nic Sheff can attend school in the city. In Sausalito, he also plays on the local Little League team. David Sheff and Karen Barbour cheer him on as he plays second base in a green Braves jersey and cap; his coach describes him as a leader whom the other children look to for guidance.

Narrative Significance

The location gathers ordinary signs of family life—fires, heavy quilts, shoreline outings, ferry rides, school travel, and baseball—into a concrete portrait of the household David Sheff and Karen Barbour are building with Nic Sheff. Its connection to San Francisco makes Sausalito less an isolated refuge than a home within an ongoing daily circuit between town, school, and family activity.