A poor, elderly white woman living in a tenement in a black ghetto is befriended by a neighborhood boy, and the two of them form a mutually beneficial relationship: he provides her companionship and protection, and she becomes the mother he never had.

Based on Joni Eareckson's autobiography. She becomes paralyzed after breaking her neck in a swimming accident at age 17. Trying to cope with her new life, she learns to paint using her mouth.