A young girl departs in the morning with specific instructions from her mother NOT to cut through the woods on her way home from school. She gamely takes on her usual route home through the city streets, passing many signs of bad economic times. One male panhandler she sees actually looks like her father! And she keeps crossing paths with a woman in a wheelchair who is missing a leg. And why does she keep seeing smiley-face plastic bags hanging around? The woods begin to look very inviting. When the time comes will she cut through the woods and disobey her mother? What will happen to her if she does? What will it mean?