Praying at the Sweetwater Motel

the long version

When Sarah Jane's alcoholic father hits her, her long-abused mother has finally had enough; she takes the 12-year-old and her 4-year-old sister and runs off. After a road trip filled with fear, hunger, and frustration, they find a haven at a motel in Dublin, Ohio, where the elderly owner, Mrs. Sweetwater, makes an offer of housing in exchange for chores. Before long, the girl is faced with the problem of starting a new school and trying to hide the fact that she lives in a motel. She also wishes that her parents would get back together-after all, her father can change, can't he? Sarah Jane, her little sister, and her mother move away from her abusive father and live at the Sweetwater Motel in Ohio.