The School for the Deaf at the Alabama Institute is organized around a theory of total communication i.e. the use of signs and finger spelling in conjunction with speech, hearing aids, lip reading, gestures and the written word. The film shows sequences dealing with various aspects of this comprehensive training such as teaching students and parents to sign; speech therapy; psychological counseling; regular academic courses; vocational training; disciplinary problems; parents visits; sports and recreational activity; training in living and working independently; and developing skills in home and money management.

本作は、仕事や家族を失い人生に迷う男性が、唯一の技能である手話を活かして「手話通訳士」になり、新たな人生のスタートを切る物語。殺人事件をめぐるミステリーとともにストーリーが展開する。

A woman leaves for a quiet weekend in the country after losing her job and imploding her latest dysfunctional relationship. She rents a country house from an old-fashioned widower who’s struggling to hide his psychopathic tendencies. Soon, two generations collide with terrifying results.

The folks who populate the rundown hotel in this story have all come there from someplace which offered a modicum of hope. Gloria, who runs the place, earns most of her money as a stripper. She lives there with her two daughters and a son with an untreated brain tumor. Charlie, who is forever in and out of jail, is Gloria's sometime lover. A recent check-in is there hoping she can work up the courage to commit suicide, since her rich doctor husband ran off and left her. Another resident is Tim, who keeps company with his dog and his booze in equal measure. A schoolteacher comes by from time to time, hoping to do these people some good, but in choosing this lot to work with, she proves to be just as much of a loser as the rest of them.

In 1945, a young boy arrives in a small Georgia town on a bus from which his mother was abducted and murdered. Alone he sits quietly and everyone becomes convinced that he is deaf and mute. Deciding that silence offers some power and protection, the boy decides to remain mute and just listens to all that is being said around him by people who think that he cannot hear.

本作は、仕事や家族を失い人生に迷う男性が、唯一の技能である手話を活かして「手話通訳士」になり、新たな人生のスタートを切る物語。殺人事件をめぐるミステリーとともにストーリーが展開する。