When a mother in recovery dies from a suspicious overdose, a detective uncovers a chilling truth: the child’s pious grandmother may have staged the relapse to claim custody, and calls it love.

SYNOPSIS:

Jess Monroe, a recovering addict in rural Utah, is fighting to rebuild her life and keep custody of her young son, Liam. Isolated, exhausted, and under constant judgment, she faces mounting pressure from her mother-in-law Marlene, a devout and outwardly compassionate woman who believes Jess is unfit to raise the child. When Jess is found dead from an apparent overdose, the case is quickly ruled accidental, another tragic relapse.

But Detective Quinn isn’t convinced.

Subtle inconsistencies begin to surface: a delayed 911 call, a spotless crime scene, and a toxicology report that doesn’t quite add up. As Quinn digs deeper, he uncovers evidence suggesting the heroin Jess used had been tampered with, laced after the fact to mimic a relapse. All signs quietly point toward Marlene, the one person who had access, motive, and a carefully curated image that shields her from suspicion.

Meanwhile, Liam, now in Marlene’s custody, grows increasingly withdrawn. Through drawings, behavior, and small, unsettling moments, he reveals fragments of a truth no one is fully seeing. Outside the system, Jess’s sponsor Tanya pushes for answers, convinced Jess was afraid in the days leading up to her death.

As Quinn closes in, Marlene’s control begins to fracture. Her pristine world, built on faith, order, and justification, starts to crack under pressure. But in her mind, she didn’t commit a crime. She saved a child.

And she’ll do whatever it takes to keep him.