洁米（玛吉·吉伦哈尔MaggieGyllenhaal饰）独自抚养着女儿玛利亚（艾米丽·阿琳·林德EmilyAlynLind饰），是一位坚强的单身妈妈，然而，玛利亚却因为轻微的语言障碍而在学校中饱受欺凌，就连老师也加入了嘲笑她的队列中去。诺娜（维奥拉·戴维斯ViolaDavis饰）是一位教师，在漫长的教学岁月中磨平了锐气。诺娜的儿子科迪（丹特·布朗DanteBrown饰）和玛利亚面临着同样的困境，然而诺娜亦无能为力，政府也毫无作为。某日，两位平凡而绝望的母亲相遇了，她们终于明白，她们必须挺身而出，为她们的孩子而战。在对抗僵化体制的过程中，两人的行为获得了支持，却也饱受非议，唯一可以肯定的是，两位母亲身上那种永不退缩的气势，给她们的孩子们带来了生活的信心和勇气。

In fourteenth-century England, peasant girl Christine Carpenter is so attracted to a statue of the Virgin Mary that the local priest (who lusts after her) suggests she be walled up in the church as an anchoress, a holy woman with responsibility for blessing the villagers. But when the priest has Christine's mother tried as a witch, she digs herself out of her cell, a crime for which the punishment is death.

An off-the-wall comedy set in the world of the Bystanders - invisible immortals who watch over their human subjects and intervene in (or interfere with) their lives.