Reverend Alden offers 15-year-old Mary her first temporary teaching position in a backwoods community. Unfortunately, it ends up being one of the most difficult jobs a young girl could ever encounter. Now she must decide if her career – not to mention her family values – are worth putting up the fight of her life.

After finding a number of bottles containing messages and a photograph from a mysterious girl, Laura finds an abandoned baby. Laura takes the child in and cares for it as if it were her own, not knowing it belongs to a timid young woman with an abusive father.