Twelve-year-old Tia lives in a white slum in New Orleans with her mother, and her whole life revolves around singing in the gospel choir with her best friend, Keisha. However, when there is a shooting outside the church, and a baby is killed, it triggers long-buried memories in Tia and she finds that she cannot sing until she confronts her feelings about her incarcerated father who killed a girl in a failed robbery years before.