Plot

Fact-based story of a legal battle fought over custody of five siblings.

This story is about the five Cain children whose mother suffers from mental instability. When she is finally committed to an institution, the children are fostered by a childless couple who soon grow to love them as their own. Just as they are settling down to their new lives and enjoying the affection and warmth that they have never had, Callie re-appears in their life and decides she wants them back. The children's lives are in danger of being torn apart as they are caught up in a desperate tug of war between the mother they have learned to fear and the foster parents they have grown to love.—mahajanssen

Callie Cain has manic depressive illness and struggles to raise her four daughters, Jessie, Julie, Susan, and Cindy. At eleven, Jessie is often forced to take care of the children and her mother, as Callie is frequently off her medication. The family is moving back to Callie's hometown in Iowa. They are accompanied by Callie's abusive boyfriend, Ray, who is the father of the baby she is carrying. As the car enters the city limits, Callie is so happy to be back that she sings "Take Me Home Country Roads."

Callie's brother John Birney has found them a house to rent. Ray is not pleased with the house but John points out that it is all he could find for what they can pay. He mentions a job opening but Ray has no intention of working since Callie gets welfare and food stamps.

John and his wife Wanda become increasingly concerned about the children. Callie gives birth to a baby she names Jason. Ray moves out after a violent quarrel. The family goes to John and Wanda's for Christmas dinner, only to have Callie start an argument. She demands that her children return their gifts. John and Wanda watch sadly as Callie and the children leave.

Matters come to a head when Donna Evans, a social worker with the Department of Human Services, comes to the house. Jessie and two of her sisters have just come home from school. Callie won't answer the door and Jessie tells Ms. Evans to go away, they don't need her. Ms. Evans leaves but returns with the police. Callie is spiraling on a manic depressive high and forces the children to kneel and pray. Eventually the police force their way in. The house is a filthy mess. The children beg not to be taken away. Callie agrees to go to a hospital and get help, but only if her children are not placed with the Birneys. She knows it was them who called Human Services.

Several hours later, Ms. Evans and another social worker are trying to find a foster home for the children. John comes by and is stunned to learn that Callie wouldn't allow the children to be placed with him and Wanda. Ms. Evans counsels him to wait until things settle down and maybe Callie will change her mind. Meanwhile, Harlan and Patty Pepper agree to take the children.

The Peppers live on a farm outside of town. They are unable to have children of their own and instantly fall in love with the Cain children. Patty even speaks of adopting them, causing Ms. Evans to remind her the goal of Human Services is to reunite families. Callie is receiving treatment and there is every reason to hope that she will get her children back. At court-ordered visits, Jessie is hostile to her mother. Callie comes to feel that the Peppers are stealing her children. As time passes, the children began calling them Mom and Dad. The Peppers do nothing to discourage this.

John has not given up trying to have the children placed with him and Wanda. Like Callie, he believes that the Peppers have overstepped their bounds. The issue eventually lands in court and the judge orders that the Cain children be removed from the Pepper home. Jessie reacts by trying to purchase sleeping pills in order to commit suicide. But the pharmacist won't sell them to her and notifies Patty. This incident goes public and Patty collects signatures from people who feel the children should remain with her and Harlan. The children's advocate, Carla Scott, buys them a few more months with the Peppers but eventually they have to leave.

Jessie doesn't understand why the court wouldn't listen to what she and her siblings wanted, which was to remain with the Peppers. She hates Callie and refuses to give her another chance. Callie has greatly improved but is still not to the point where she can get her children back. The children are now living in two different foster homes.

The Peppers are allowed to write to the children and send them tapes. But Harlan feels it is time to move on. Patty is unable to and eventually the couple separates.

Callie runs away from the hospital, which greatly distresses Ms. Evans. She tells the children's counselor that now they will have to start all over, as the foster home placements were only short-term. Since the Peppers are separated, they are no longer eligible to be foster parents. Callie turns up at John's house and they talk. At last she agrees to let him and Wanda have the children. She is allowed to say goodbye and there is hope that she and Jessie will one day reconcile.

As the result of this case, new laws are enacted in Iowa concerning the rights of foster children. John and Wanda adopt the Cain children in 1987.