the story

Casey, 16, is a loner…and a lost soul in search of love. The film opens in the suburbs of Michigan on her disastrous first day of school when she ends up humiliated and disrespected. At home, she struggles to survive against her mother’s abusive, alcoholic new boyfriend. Casey is sent away to New York to be with her father and his new family.

After she sees her father and overhears conversations among his family that painfully make her feel unwanted, she wanders the streets of New York alone. One thing leads to another and soon she finds herself working part-time in a massage parlor.

Samuel Benz, a Holocaust survivor, is making his daily visit to his wife’s grave when he discovers Casey asleep on a tombstone. At first taken aback by the slogan covered jacket which covers her shoulders,  he decides to wait for her to wake up and takes Casey into his home.