Ballast

In the cold, winter light of the rural Mississippi Delta, Marlee, a single African-American mother, struggles to scratch a living for herself and her 12-year-old son, James, who has begun to stumble under drug and violence pressures. So when the opportunity to seek safe harbor at a new home arises, she grabs it, even though the property is shared by Lawrence, a man with whom she has a long and bitter past. With circumstances thrusting them into proximity, a subtle interdependence and common purpose emerge for Marlee and Lawrence, as they tend to old wounds, test new waters, and tentatively move forward.