Ava Maynard leaves her small coal mining town in Eastern Kentucky to make a life for herself and her son, Joshua, in the city. Her husband, Collis, has been laid off from his job as a miner, but he won't leave the place they've always called home. When tragedy strikes, Ava is forced to return to the mountains to try to make sense of her family and the destruction in her hometown. She reluctantly slips back into her spot in this troubled world. At once comforted by the familiar beauty and grounding of the mountains and repulsed by the devastation of strip mining and drug culture, Ava relies on her deepest friendships and learns how to fight for the place she belongs to.