Nade is an honest, hard-working elementary school teacher struggling to keep her life together. With the home she shares with her alcoholic husband and young daughter on the brink of repossession and no money to her name, Nade resorts to measures her former self, untouched by the realities of economic desperation and moral compromise, would have found depraved.

Woodcarver Geppetto has pets Figaro the cat and Cleo the fish. He has just made a little wooden puppet called Pinocchio. Wishing upon a star before he goes to bed, Geppetto wishes that Pinocchio would become a real boy. As Geppetto sleeps, the Blue Fairy arrives and partially grants his wish. Pinocchio can come to life, but he must prove himself worthy before becoming a real boy. He will require some guidance, and Jiminy Cricket agrees to act as his...