SYNOPSIS:

Police officer Ryan Hackett is left to settle two big issues for his brother, Michael, recently deceased: Take in Michael’s young son, Graham; and close Michael’s apartment which he puts off for several weeks. But when he does, he finds a shocking sight: a five-year-old child locked in a back room, near death from starvation and thirst. Ryan, with the help of his friend, Dr. Jane Cassidy, rescues the child in time. Despite the best efforts of the authorities, the kid seems completely abandoned. From a photograph found at the apartment, Ryan and Jane decide to give the child a name – “Memphis” – and vow never to discuss the back room and to forget what was found there. It seems Memphis forgets too, but has plenty to replace forgotten memories: impossible to foster, much less adopt, because of her defiance, petty thefts and strange behavior at odd moments. At age 11, she gets placed in Juvie Hall and stays there, terrorizing other kids with the help of her best friend, Amber Diamond. Memphis is a few weeks shy of being released when she first meets Graham – now the spitting image of his father – in his new job as counselor. Memphis is terrified, but they eventually forge a truce that gradually warms to friendship. Socialite Lacey Cadwallader enters the scene with an offer for Memphis to join her prestigious musical troupe – IF she’s as good as she’s heard. And it’s clear, singing a spiritual at her graduation ceremony that Memphis goes far beyond “good enough.” The world looks bright to Memphis and soon finds new challenges in the competitive arena of the arts. Meanwhile Graham buries his attraction to Memphis by joining the military. Ryan still has trouble shaking the demons let loose in the back room years before. Lacey bribes Amber to disappear without a word so that Memphis isn’t distracted from her work. Memphis keeps plugging. But despite her mounting success, the past never stops nipping at her heels. Dr. Jane brushes off Memphis’s petty thefts and panic attacks, while Lacey uses them to keep Memphis in line. Events come to a head when a very public ruckus lands Memphis in jail. Graham, home on furlough, comes to the rescue, though no one could guess the terrible impact that noble gesture will eventually take. Very soon after Graham’s rescue, Memphis stumbles onto a clue to her identity she cannot resist following, which starts a chain of events which forces her past out of the shadows, in which players, past and present, are snared in a dangerous game to discover who Memphis really is. They must meet at “ground zero” and play it out once and for all. The question is: who – if any – will survive that ordeal?

LITTLE GIRL FOUND