Jill, a troubled juvenile delinquent, is sent to live with her Great Aunt after her mother abandons her.  While living with her Great Aunt Sissy, Jill learns more than how a ranch works as she uncovers the dark secrets of her family's past.

SYNOPSIS:

Act 1 – Jill our protagonist, runs the streets with the wrong crowd getting into trouble with the law. Her single mother – Mary, dealing with her own issues, does not provide the proper home environment for a teenage girl. Faced with going to juvenile detention, her case worker Dunne gives Jill another option, to go live in the country with the only other family he could find, her Great Aunt Sissy that Jill never knew existed. Given the night to decide before her hearing, Jill has her own option – running away and living on the streets. That night wandering the streets there are three chance encounters with (1) her friends that die in a car crash (2) good and bad homeless people, and (3) a couple of prostitutes that want her to join them. These encounters show Jill what the future could hold for her if she makes the wrong choice. After visiting a church hoping God would give her a sign, Jill goes to live with Sissy.

Act 2 – Life on Sissy’s ranch is tough and living under Sissy’s rules even tougher. But, country living and working with the animals helps Jill find an inter peace that has been missing from her life and her life is better living with someone who cares. As Jill settles in, she develops friendships with wise old Pete, the horse wrangler, Harlan, the handsome neighbor boy who works on the ranch, and Betsy, an old horse. But, everything in the country is not as pure as one might think when Jill learns that there is a dark secret about Sissy that no one is willing to talk about. Jill’s joy of riding and a budding relationship with Harlan are in jeopardy when two old friends come to visit leading to a loss of riding privileges.

Act 3 – Jill, in disobedience of Sissy, takes Betsy for a ride that results in Betsy breaking her leg and having to be put down by Sissy. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Sissy reveals the family secret that lead to her estrangement from Mary. Now knowing the truth about her mother and what lead to the downward spiral of not just her life; but, also her mother’s, leads Jill to run home to her mother. Returning home presents it’s own challenges and a chance encounter of Sissy and Mary who discover that each have a different version of the secret. When the truth is known, Mary demands that Sissy swear to never real the full truth to Jill.