Ever since she can remember, seventeen-year-old Margot Nielsen has been living with her mother in a run-down, single-bedroom apartment where she has to follow a strange set of rules laid down by her mother, Jo. Longing to know of her past, Margot comes upon a family bible with a photograph and phone number, taking her on a journey to rural Nebraska where she discovers her grandmother Vera, living on the family homestead. Margot soon realizes the warm and loving family she was hoping for doesn't exist and that her mother may have had excellent reasons to leave without a trace.