Cree Matriarch Aline Spears survives Canada's residential school system to continue her family's generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse. The story unfolds over one hundred years with a cumulative force that propels us into the future.
To Be Starved
Cree piano prodigy Aline Spears and her siblings are taken from their family home as children and forced into residential school; Spears, now a World War II code talker, and her husband, Adam Wallach, confront the spectres of their pasts.
To Be Separated
Aline reconnects with her sister, Perseverance, which resurfaces memories of a daring attempt to escape residential school - and its irrevocable consequences on all four Spears siblings.
To Be Denied
Aline struggles to support her family while Adam, denied his veteran's pension, is cast adrift. When their children, Jake and Taylor, take action against a local priest, Aline experiences a crisis of faith.
To Let Go
Advancing her work on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Affairs, Taylor returns to her childhood home; a tense Thanksgiving dinner between the family spurs Jake to reach out to his father's family.
To Be Here
Taylor and Aline travel to the Vatican where confronting the past sparks a pivotal discovery; Jake joins his family's work and a concert becomes an opportunity for reconnection and healing.
