A look at African-American family life in the United States.

Inspired by the hit off-Broadway play, Amara Winter, a strikingly beautiful and charismatic young singer, is on the verge of pop stardom. Raised in the church by her father, Reverend Dr. Kenneth Winter and mother, Lillian Winter, Amara and her younger brother Luke have a very strong bond. After her fathers untimely death, her mother is thrusts into the limelight in the role as preacher, a daring move that ultimately catapults her to the top of the gospel world. Paralleling her mothers success, Amara soon becomes a huge star in her own right, taking the pop music world by storm. Conflict begins to ensue when her mother is confronted with and unequivocally disapproves of Amara's secular music and videos. Amara must learn to pursue her dreams while both navigating the often treacherous world of celebrity and striving to remain true to herself and family. Amara and her mother must work through their differences realizing that their journeys are not quite so different after all...

Coming of age in small-town Oklahoma. High schooler Cal Chetley is a brainy beanpole. He lives with his widowed mother: ten years earlier, his father, a state champion in wrestling, died in a car crash. Cal's older brother Mike, also a former champion and now down and out at 28, is estranged from the family. Over the course of a fall and winter, we watch Cal join the high school wrestling team and search out Mike to ask for help. Mike rejects the offer, but Cal is persistent. What if Mike accepts the challenge, is he destined to let Cal down? Giving advice and encouragement are an enigmatic old man and Cal's quirky neighbor, Lori. Plus, there's Cal's mom to reckon with.

Summer in a small southern town: Grace wants to go to college, but her feckless mom has poisoned that well (no student loans because mom has welshed on credit cards in Grace's name). Dorian wants to escape from his snobbish adoptive parents. They team up to sell marijuana - she hopes for enough to go to college. Both investigate family secretes, and things get complicated when Dorian falls for her, Grace falls for someone else, and Grace's 15-year-old sister behaves badly. Can Dorian find independence and Grace get to college. And what constitutes a family, anyway?