All that Maddy Hawkins has ever wanted was a family she could call her own. Even in 1959, the simplest things are difficult to find...Maddy, a street-wise teenage runaway, believes she has created this family with the women who live with her in an East Coast woman-only rooming house: Lulu, an eccentric silent-screen star; Claire, a beautiful, widowed French war bride; and Mary, a young artist.But as Maddy watches her newfound family fall apart, she begins to realize that some things in life are worth fighting for, and that the bonds of true friendship are the strongest bonds of all.

十五岁的丝考特带著妹妹露露和曾祖母，住在德州的小镇相依为命。为了照顾露露，丝考特经常翘课最后成为中辍生，一次意外事件引起儿童福利局的官员上门拜访。露露的生父被迫出面，强行带走露露。丝考特只好求助住在附近疗养院的山姆，说服他一起飞越杜鹃窝，踏上公路之旅，从德州到纽约，几乎跨越了整个美国国土，他们决定不计一切代价也要抢回露露……