The Power of Grace

It’s October 1972, Zeke Grant, a Black teen, is arrested for possession with the intent to sell a controlled substance. Due to extenuating circumstances, he’s sent to live on a Foster Care Farm run by an elderly couple, Harold and Claudia Hamilton. He meets three other teens; David, a streetwise con artist, RayRay, an undocumented Mexican immigrant and Mai, a Chinese girl who’s a victim of sex trafficking. The youths fight constantly. Harold, a former Marine and a survivalist, tries unsuccessfully to create a cohesive group among the teens. The teens covertly follow David to a storage locker facility and learn that his mentor has left him a substantial amount of money. Hoping to score again, David purchases an abandoned locker with a box which contains four hand written journals. He discards the content. Secretly, Mai keeps them. Mai discovers Grace, an abused seven-year-old hiding in the barn. The youths tend to her needs, trying unsuccessfully to keep her existence a secret from their foster parents. When the elderly couple meets Grace, she shares her story of abandonment, and Mai realizes that the journals in her possession belong to Grace’s long lost mother, who suffers from a bipolar disorder.. Harold passes away unexpectantly and the foster care home is closed by the state. To avoid being sent back into the system and to protect Grace, the youths take Harold’s RV and embark on a journey to the Appalachian Trail to reunite Grace with her mother, who went there to heal. During the wilderness expedition, they encounter various life threatening events ranging from flash floods to a bear attack. The youths have several interactions with various quirky travelers who offer insight into the whereabouts of Grace’s mother, who has assumed an alias… Siren Song. The youths coalesce around the need to keep Grace safe, and they become a family. They’re being tracked by Devil’s Dog, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, who believes he needs to save Grace from being killed in a military bombing raid. Grace’s mother appears and prevents Devil’s Dog from taking her. Siren Song fears that Grace is unsafe with her. The youths convince her to reunite with her daughter. She finally acquiesces; recognizing that she and Grace are inextricably linked and decides to become a member of the tribe.