For fifteen-year-old Ruthie Carmichael (Stefania Owen) and her young mother, Rita (Katie Holmes), life has never been stable. Fleeing Rita's latest boyfriend, they find themselves living out of their beat-up car, and heading east in search of a better life.

When money runs out and their car breaks down, they become stranded in a small town where Rita ultimately lands a steady job waitressing at Tiny's, a local diner where they begin to develop a family: tender-hearted Marty (Richard Kind), the owner of the diner, and Pam (Eve Lindley), a transgender waitress with big dreams who becomes Ruthie's closest friend.