Eli Zeal is a bitter Jewish shopkeeper who is shot during a hold-up attempt by the 11-year-old son of a single mother in Washington, DC. Distraught and with nowhere else to turn, the boy’s mother Tyree Battle kidnaps the wounded Zeal and along with her son, flees to her small hometown of Waterproof, Louisiana - and a family she hasn’t seen in years. Thrust into the unfamiliar world of the deep south, Zeal finds himself surrounded by Tyree’s brothers - one battling a severe brain injury, the other an angry alcoholic - her hundred year old grandfather and a mother of irrepressible faith. But, as they work to nurse Zeal back to health, dark shadows begin to emerge from the family’s past - forcing them to confront a dreadful secret that has torn them apart.