Plot synopsis: Ruby Lee Gissing (Ashley Judd) is on the run, determined to find something better than the closed rough life in the mountains of East Tennessee.
She flees to a place once visited as a child, the “Redneck Riviera” of Panama City Beach.
Arriving during the off-season, Ruby finds work in a gift shop owned by Mildred Chambers (Dorothy Lyman).
Always on an emotional and economic edge, Ruby begins to keep a journal, “trying to figure out the whys of running off, of coming here.” Ruby’s desire to find her own way, to make her own choices, to explore her appetites in her own good time, gets her in and out of trouble as she moves through Winter into the frantic madness of Spring Break and beyond.
The resolution of Ruby’s journey is both unexpected and hopeful as Ruby indeed finds her own way in “paradise.” Director Victor Nunez Writers Victor Nunez Actors Ashley Judd, Todd Field, Bentley Mitchum, Allison Dean, Dorothy Lyman Genre Drama, Romance Run Time 1 hour 54 minutes