The young learn fast; how to trust, then how to lose faith. Three vastly different teenagers come to grips with a cataclysmic year of events.
Summer and Ray made a pact to stay out of trouble. Having lost their respective parents to a brutal act of terrorism, the Taiwanese teenagers are grateful for the chance to settle into a new life, after being graciously adopted into a nuclear American family. ‘Settling down’ however, with the Ryder family, involved uprooting every six months and leaving town on a night’s notice.
Tribulations seem to spring up at every corner and Christian, their new adoptive brother, is unwittingly dragged into the chaos. Arriving in New Orleans, the three are confronted with a hostile school environment, with its stark ethnic segregations, where politics target the young, violence erupts haphazardly and acts of vandalism go unchecked.
Brooding and enigmatic, Ray struggles with his temper and seeks an outlet in music. Increasingly detached from his parents, Christian finds himself torn between the pull of charismatic radicals and his loyalty to his family. Bored in New Orleans, Summer is the youngest, most trusting and most vulnerable.
It slowly dawns on our protagonists that the past is chasing them down. The Ryder family harbour a disturbing secret which betrays the bonds of trust and friendship that have been so painstakingly established.