Having escaped from a cult as a child, a mother must face her past when its sinister members break into her home and attempt to steal her eight-year-old son, David. Now the two are on the run pursued by a detective determined to save them both. Since his aborted kidnapping something has changed in David and the boy has succumbed to a mysterious illness. Following her maternal instincts to save him, his mother commits unspeakable acts to keep him alive but is losing the battle. Soon, she has to decide how far she is willing to go to save her son.

When a petty crime thrusts him into the company of a feisty eighty-one-year-old African-American woman named Rose Price, Grantham and Rose push the boundaries of their relationship, their lives, and what it means to love, as they take a road trip back to their roots.