An abandoned 12-year-old girl finds a cathartic way forward in this bittersweet drama from director Bill Maher. When her mother Joleen (Charlize Theron) finally decides she's had enough of her life and heads off into the night with a trucker, she leaves daughter Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) in foster care. Although his own life isn't exactly peaches and cream, Joleen's slacker brother James (Nick Stahl) feels sympathy for his niece, taking her out of care before the two head off for the comfort of the road. With no idea of his next move, James soon finds himself heading to his father (Dennis Hopper)'s farm, the place he has never returned to since his difficult and violent childhood. But now, in an attempt to pull the fragments of the family back together, he realises the time is ripe to finally put the past to rest, and allow his niece the childhood she has never experienced.