Miss LaShay Glory Hunter is a bright student in Public Health at the University of Iowa. Unfortunately, she has a chip on her shoulder as big a giant hawkeye. Her thesis advisor, Carl, requires that she take time off due to conduct that is unbecoming. Depressed, broke, angry, lost, and literally tearing out her hair, Miss Hunter relocates from Iowa City to Tacoma and is forced to reconnect with the mother she has never forgiven.

The heart and soul of the film is the bonding of Nona and her daughter. At the outset, they argue about everything. They cannot even agree on what to call Miss Hunter. The mother named her Lashay, but the daughter insists on being called Shay.

Nona is a recovered alcoholic, but her daughter cannot find a way to forgive her for what she perceives was abandonment. The most memorable scene in the film was a shootout in the chapel when Nona was giving a testimonial about her sobriety. For Shay, there was not a public apology, and a major confrontation ensued in front of the congregation.

A romantic subplot involved Shay and her co-worker, Oliver Toliver, at the local record store. Oliver Toliver is a smooth talker, but not as adroit with his birth control technique. Shay becomes pregnant, which brings her closer to her mom.

The most moving scenes involved mother and daughter. A special recovery technique of Nona was to bury notes in her backyard garden with the goal moving on from the past. Shay adopts the practice as well, and it helps in her own personal development.

The film conveyed a warm message about honesty and heartfelt communications. There was good feeling from the ensemble cast, especially the mother. Nona and Shay were finally able to agree about the implications of Shay's middle name, Glory, when Nona said, "Glories thrive in the worst possible soil and face the morning every day with a smile." It was not surprising that Shay took back to school with her not only a little baby inside her, but a smile as wide as the state of Iowa.

Nicole Behaire and Jill Scott give startling performances about a daughter who cannot forget about the dysfunctional life that her mother gave her.

Behaire is absolutely terrific as the daughter. The contortions in her face, her vulnerability and sadness, her refusal to forgive her mother for her early life culminates in a memorable scene in church when the daughter blurts everything out.

The daughter has so much anger in her. She is just seething in it. Forced to take a leave of absence from teaching while pursuing a master's degree, she has no other place but to go to but her mother's house and the two continue to battle almost immediately upon meeting after a several year separation.

The daughter obviously needs to be in therapy, while the mother has turned her life around working as an administrator, while she is a recovering alcoholic.

My major criticism of the film is that the mother, the daughter's friend and ultimately the daughter herself are pregnant without marriage. Must this be the way of life for African-American women? This seems to be an accepted mode in this film and society at large today.