Reverend Analiese Wagner's judgment is called into question when she steps in to help a homeless family. Then Isaiah Colburn, the Catholic priest who was her mentor, reappears in her life, torn between the priesthood and his desire for a future with her. Analiese now must answer the question of how to define her own happiness.

Sixth grader June Yang and her Chinese American family move into a homeless shelter after her father's death. Resident Tyrell, who also is in sixth grade, offers to show June the ropes, since he's lived there for three years and thinks being there is much better than living alone with his unreliable mother. June is devastated to learn she isn't allowed to play her viola, the instrument her father purchased for her from his tip money, but learns that...

Michael and Lorece, young high school sweethearts, have a promising future ahead of them when Michael is offered a basketball scholarship to a junior college. He turns it down when Lorece becomes pregnant, taking a job at a local meat packing plant. Working himself up to supervisor within five years, he is devastated when the plant shuts down and he loses his job. When suggestions of better opportunities in another city comes along, he packs up his...