Rey gave up his chance at college and love to raise his young half-brother Oliver, who looks nothing like him - "same mom, different dads." But when his meth addicted mother, Lola, is released from prison determined to rebuild her family, Rey kidnaps his younger brother and escapes their desert home for the California coast, chasing the dream that he let go years ago. Lola turns to her ex-husband Bo to help find her missing boys, bringing up ghosts from their own failed relationship. With nothing but the open road ahead of them, and Lola and Bo in close pursuit, Rey and Oliver race away from a past they never wanted, towards a future that could have been.

Elle wants to be a singer/songwriter, but her dreams are cut short by the sudden death of her parents. She moves in with her adoptive uncle, who runs a small independent record label whose biggest act, Sensation, is also Elle's biggest pain. The pop music environment at the label, very different than the country roots she is used to, adds to Elle's feelings of loss and frustration, and her misplaced guilt, which is caused by the fact that her parents had been en route to her performance at the time of her death. But when she meets Ty Parker, a famous pop singer with a passion for "real" music, her repressed ambition is released through a revitalized interest in singing and songwriting.