Thirteen Minutes begins in 1928 and proceeds to tell a half-century long tale of the Burnside Family. Holly, the middle child, grows disenchanted with the clerk position that famed Equal-Persons politician, Nellie McLung, had arranged for with the Alberta Eugenics Board, an organization dedicated to the sterilization of society’s unfit. Her younger brother, Billy, must re-evaluate his career as a player for the Saskatoon Sheiks when the Prairie Hockey League faces financial collapse. Following a provocative piece of Dadaist performance, eldest son Nicky Burnside flees to Europe to further develop his artistic understanding. As distant as siblings can be, their lives connect sporadically over decades to weave a story of conflicting family, Theatre of Cruelty, shocking bureaucracy and the love that miraculously occurs throughout.