1950s, North Carolina. Martha 'Sonny' Creech, her two brothers, and her parents work hard on their cotton farm, but only Sonny loves the rich, dark earth the way her father does. When a tragic accident claims his life, her stricken family struggles to fend off ruin. When Frank Fowler, their rich, reclusive neighbor, offers to help finance that year's cotton crop, Sonny is sure the man has ulterior motives. Her own talent for divining water won't be...

A story about growing up in a small Texas town during the Great Depression. Focusing on a young widow who suddenly has to support her two young children, the film celebrates the community she gathers around her: a black hobo who begins as a thief and winds up as a friend and mentor; a cranky blind boarder; a pragmatic sister who is supporting her own family, including a husband with a penchant for her best friend.

On assignment for "Fortune" magazine in 1936, Agee and Evans set out to explore the plight of sharecroppers during the Great Depression. Published for the first time, Agee's original dispatch (accompanied by 25 of Evans' historic photographs) is an unsparing record of three families at a desperate time.