Ellie Sanders discovers a battered shoebox of handwritten song lyrics in the back of her bedroom closet. The hunt for the missing songwriter leads her to Ray, an elderly homeless man with a broken spirit. Fifty years earlier, Ray's bluegrass band, the Gulch Jumpers, was on the verge of success when tragedy struck and he lost everything. Ray asks Ellie to take him on a desperate search to help him heal a fifty-year-old wound, a journey to the crossroads. Though dealing with her own ghosts, Ellie embarks with Ray on a journey into the world of bluegrass music and fifty-year-old race relations.

Along for the road trip is Ellie's college friend, Brandy, a sullen and resentful heroin addict with her own secrets. Racial prejudice, legal hurdles, grief over lost children, and drug addiction converge as Ellie, Ray and Brandy discover the power of music, friendship, and hope.