A harrowing, coming-of-age story based on the best selling novel by Janet Fitch. Twelve-year-old Astrid (Alison Lohman "The Thirteenth Floor," TV's "Pasadena") shares an idyllic life with her mother Ingrid (Oscar-nominated Michelle Pfeiffer "I Am Sam," "What Lies Beneath"), a beautiful and free-spirited artist. When her mom is suddenly sent to prison for life for committing a crime of passion, Astrid is set adrift in the world. Alone to struggle to become her own person, she goes through foster home after foster home experiencing forbidden love, religion, near-death experiences, drugs, starvation and how it feels to be loved.