After a guilt-ridden counselor almost dies from an overdose, she takes work at a women’s shelter, where she must ease her conscience by saving an abused woman who does not want to be rescued.

SYNOPSIS:

The story is about abused women taking control of their lives.

Grappling with her father’s psychological abuse and guilt over her mother’s tragic death, SELMA, (late 30s-40s) African American, attempts suicide. When she almost succeeds, she decides she must atone for her part in her mother’s death by taking work as a counselor at the Blue Bird House Shelter for Abused Women and rescuing one abused woman.

After ELIZABETH, (40s) Caucasian geriatrician, is scalded by her husband, MARK, (40s-50s) Caucasian orthopedic surgeon, she runs to the shelter. Jasmine, (late-teens) Asian, also arrives at the shelter. She has a newborn and a cast on her arm.

Elizabeth only wants to stay one night. Selma convinces her to stay longer by consenting to work on Elizabeth’s three goals. She wants to be happy, to have something that will help her when she goes home, and to find the part of herself she has lost while living with Mark. Selma also allows Elizabeth to help Jasmine with the baby.

Because of her father’s abuse, Selma is wary of everyone, depends on no one, and does not trust authority figures. However, she must work with GAIA (60s), the South Asian manager of the shelter. She explains to Selma that, on average, women return to their abusers seven times before they are able to leave permanently, and brainwashing is one of the main reasons. Then Gaia teaches her the mitigating process. Gaia gives Selma six days to offer Elizabeth the information she needs to find her way out of abuse. During most of that time, Elizabeth will not know Selma is trying to combat brainwashing.

Every day, Selma tries a new intervention to prove to Elizabeth that Mark is an abuser. However, the women clash because Elizabeth believes he is a good man. Conflict also arises because Selma is not working on the goals. When Elizabeth gets fed up, she threatens to leave counseling. Selma tells her that this is all part of a process that Selma has used with other abused women. This is a lie. Elizabeth is the only abused woman Selma has counseled. When Selma accidentally reveals that she lied to Elizabeth, their conflict intensifies.

Unbeknownst to Selma, Jasmine is becoming jealous of Elizabeth because she is spending so much time with the baby. Selma also doesn’t know that Elizabeth calls Mark every night, and every night he uses gaslighting and other forms of psychological abuse to persuade Elizabeth to come home. When nothing works, he threatens to ruin her career.

After Jasmine returns to her abuser, where she and the baby are killed, and Elizabeth decides to go back to Mark even though she now understands that he is an abuser, Selma is crushed. She offers Gaia her resignation. But Gaia is not ready to accept it. Instead, she wants to talk. Selma explains that when she was eight years old, she made her mother leave the shelter. When they arrived home, Selma’s father was furious. Selma watched him kick her mother to death. Since then, Selma has been hounded by guilt because she has always believed that her mother’s death was her fault. In addition, Selma admits she lies when she feels backed into a corner, and she lied to Elizabeth.

When Gaia offers to support Selma, she turns her down. As Selma watches her walk away, Selma realizes how much she needs Gaia and asks for her support. Gaia opens her arms, and Selma accepts her embrace.

Selma finds that Elizabeth has yet to leave the shelter. She and Gaia race to the shelter, where Selma discovers Elizabeth near the gate. Selma tries one last intervention. Elizabeth breaks down and admits that she gave up her new-born baby because Mark convinced her that she was delusional. She accepts that Mark lied, and she is not crazy. However, he arrives at the shelter, ready to kidnap Elizabeth. The two women hold him off until the police arrest him.

Selma breaks all ties to her father, and Gaia helps her realize that he, not Selma, was responsible for her mother’s death.

Selma and Elizabeth create a worldwide self-help organization called S.O.D.A., Survivors of Domestic Abuse, where abused women support each other while creating a better world for women like themselves and their children.