Slim's father, a charismatic actor named Mack, is dying of AIDS. Slim and Mack's companion, Larry, help care for Mack. Soon Slim joins a support group for family members who live with people who have AIDS. There she meets Isaiah, who believes their parents can be cured by the Miracle Man in the "Hungry Valley" north of Los Angeles. Slim believes only what she sees: that her father and others are dying and no one is trying to stop it. But Isaiah's faith in miracles rubs off on Slim, and with their family and friends they journey into the mountains to find their own moment of magic.