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Plot Summary with Spoilers
(brought to you by kat impatientreader.com) Shae-Lynn, a 40 year-old ex-cop now runs a taxi business in the tiny coal-mining town of Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania. One April afternoon, she talks with two kids, Fanci and Kenny, whose dad Choker has left them unsupervised in town. Then she gets a cell-phone call to pick up a client at the airport in Harrisburg.
He's Kozlowski, a NYC lawyer looking for Shae-Lynn's sister Shannon who disappeared 18 years ago. Shae-Lynn has always feared that their abusive father (now dead himself) murdered her. Without revealing her connection to Shannon, Shae-Lynn takes Kozlowski to a hotel and agrees to introduce him to some locals that night.
Shaken, she gets a drink at the bar, and picks a fist-fight with Choker for neglecting his kids. Her son Clay, one of the town deputies, breaks up the fight. Then she drives out to talk with E.J., a miner whom she secretly loves. She finds him walking down the road. A tourist approaches for details about the rescue, two years ago, of five miners including E.J. from a disaster in the JoJo coal mine.
Shae-Lynn and E.J. return to his place where he confirms that he and the other four miners have filed a civil lawsuit against mine owner Cam Jack. Then she gets a cell-phone call from her son asking her to change a tire for a stranded motorist.
The motorist turns out to be Connecticut housewife Pamela Jameson – also looking for Shannon whom she claims stole her baby. Shae-Lynn returns home to find her sister Shannon, nine months pregnant. Shannon tells her nothing about the past 18 years.
That evening Shae-Lynn introduces Kozlowski to some of the miners at the bar. They all talk about the civil suit. Getting Kozlowski alone, she finds out that he's worked with Shannon on several "projects" in NYC. She gets a cell-phone call from Pamela wanting "protection" at a meeting with Shannon the next day.
The next morning, Shae-Lynn drives to Pamela's hotel where Pamela admits that she's been paying Shannon to be a surrogate mother. Now Shannon has skipped out on her.
At a local diner, Shae-Lynn sits in Pamela's SUV while Pamela meets Shannon inside. Shae-Lynn listens to their conversation via her cell-phone, which is connected to Pamela's in Pamela's purse. Shannon tells Pamela she's lined up another family for the baby that will pay even more. Pamela stalls for time and returns to the SUV.
Stunned, Shae-Lynn goes to the sheriff's department and tells her son about Shannon. He tells her his friend Dusty, one of the rescued miners, has been kicked out by his wife and is sleeping at his new restaurant, now closed and bankrupt.
Shae-Lynn, while leaving the sheriff's department, notices Marines recruiting at the mall. She gives several people rides, including Choker's neglected kids Fanci and Kenny, and drops in on some miners and their families.
Returning home, she sees Shannon's car gone, and a strange car parked. She surprises a gunman sneaking around the woods, and disarms him. He has a Russian accent and is looking for Shannon. He gets his pistol back and knocks Shae-Lynn unconscious. When she wakes, he's gone.
The next morning, Shae-Lynn finds Shannon still gone, and the Russian drinking coffee in her kitchen. He tells her that Kozlowski is a lawyer who persuades girls to get pregnant in order to sell their babies.
Shae-Lynn leaves to give some girls a ride to the high-school where the Marines are recruiting. She gets a cell-phone call from Cam Jack, the owner of the mine. He wants her to come to his office that evening. Full of unexplained apprehension, she agrees.
She returns home to find Shannon still gone, and takes a nap. The phone wakes her: it's Pamela, confirming that Shannon wants $100K in cash for the baby. Shae-Lynn advises her to walk away and not let Shannon scam her, and Pamela hangs up on her.
Nervous about meeting Cam Jack, Shae-Lynn drives to the high-school, picks up one of the Marine recruiters, and has sex with him. Driving on, she remembers how Cam Jack talked her into sex when she was a teenager and dumped her when she got pregnant. He is the father of her son Clay, a secret she has never revealed to anyone.
She meets Cam Jack at his office. He tells her that if the five survivors of the mine disaster pursue their civil suit, he'll declare bankruptcy and close both of his mines. This will put everyone out of work. He also wants her to introduce him to his son Clay tomorrow, same time and place. Frightened, Shae-Lynn leaves and happens to see Kozlowski and Shannon outside a nearby hotel. She confronts them.
Apparently they run a surrogate-mother scam together, and this is Shannon's tenth baby! She wants to retire after selling this one. Shannon reveals that she left home 18 years ago shortly after Shae-Lynn moved out with Clay. Shannon has always resented that Shae-Lynn found the strength to stop their father's abuse only after Clay got born, but not previously to protect Shannon.
Shae-Lynn drops Shannon off at her house, and drives on to E.J.'s house to talk. He confesses that he loves her but has always feigned indifference out of guilt at not being able to protect her from her abusive dad. Realizing they love one another, they have sex.
Early the next morning, another miner drops by E.J.'s house and Shae-Lynn overhears them agreeing that their lawsuit isn't worth pursuing if it will make Cam Jack shut down both mines. E.J. goes to work. Shae-Lynn passes the day, giving people rides. She encounters Fanci and Kenny who are avoiding their drunken dad. She takes them back to her house where Shannon ends up having the baby right in front of them. It's a girl. Leaving the kids to look after Shannon, Shae-Lynn drives on to her meeting with Cam Jack and her son.
Clay meets her in the office parking lot, wondering what's going on. Shae-Lynn can't bring herself to confess that Cam Jack is her son's father. So she lets Cam himself spring it on Clay. Apparently Cam needs a kidney donation from Clay who refuses the request and storms away from Shae-Lynn, furious that she kept his parentage from him.
Shae-Lynn goes home where the kids excitedly tell her that the Russian showed up, claiming to be the baby's father and took Shannon and the baby away with him. He also cooked dinner. Shae-Lynn and the kids eat dinner. Kozlowski calls, needing a ride to the airport tomorrow. He's giving up and returning to NYC. Shae-Lynn drives the kids home to their dad. She returns home, and E.J. comes over to talk.
The next morning Shae-Lynn wakes with E.J. in her bed; they have sex. He goes to work in the mine. Trying to find Shannon, she calls Pamela who admits she's giving up and returning to Connecticut. Shae-Lynn gets Kozlowski to the airport in Harrisburg, and then returns to Jolly Mount in time to scare off a Marine attempting to recruit poor Dusty at his bankrupt restaurant.
Returning home, she finds the Russian who refuses to reveal the whereabouts of Shannon and their baby, but claims he wants a good home for the infant girl. He won't accept money for the baby, finding this immoral. He leaves.
Shae-Lynn brings the kids Fanci and Kenny to her place to have dinner with her and E.J. The sheriff Ivan Z. and Clay show up with Shannon's baby, which has been signed over to Shae-Lynn's custody by Shannon and the Russian. The End.
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