Marilyn's quiet, mysterious beauty belies the turmoil inside her head. She moves with her children to her parent's farm to escape her alcoholic husband’s increasingly violent outbursts. Her daughter, Ginny, finds comfort in her grandmother's company and the discovery of her father's old Brownie camera. As Marilyn's mental health declines, Ginny embarks on an obsession with taking photographs
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particularly of people in moments of raw emotion. A chance to go away to college gives Ginny hope for a new life. But soon a new crisis with Marilyn and a murder investigation force Ginny to face and reconcile her difficult childhood.