Where the dead sit talking

In 1980s rural Oklahoma, a fifteen-year-old Cherokee boy named Sequoyah comes of age in the foster care system while his single mother is in jail. He lives with the Troutt family and is literally scarred by his mother's substance abuse. When he meets seventeen-year-old Rosemary, a troubled artist who also lives with the family, the two bond over their shared Native American background and foster care experiences. Their feelings for each other grow, but the pain of their pasts and their present situation threaten their happiness.