Pigs in Heaven

Taylor Greer never thought she'd be a mother. But, thanks to a bizarre chain of events in "The Bean Trees," she finds herself raising a Cherokee child named Turtle. Now six years old, the little girl who was initially so traumatized by previous abuse that she didn't speak, has made herself at home with Taylor and her boyfriend Jackson. To Turtle, they are the only parents she has ever known. But an unexpected moment of recognition attracts the attention of an Oklahoma lawyer, Annawake Fourkiller, to Turtle. Knowing it's illegal for a Cherokee child to be adopted outside her tribe, Annawake sets out to find Taylor and Turtle, and begin the process of returning her to what she feels is her rightful place in the world. But both mother and daughter have other ideas, and with Taylor's mother Alice, they embark on a road trip intending to begin a life elsewhere. Taylor finally concedes that she and Turtle can't run away from their problems forever. She only prays that Annawake and the others who have become involved in the case will see that skin color and genetics aren't the only important factors in creating a loving mother and daughter.