The Smile We Hide Behind
Being different scares people
We all want to be normal. We all want to fit in.
All Carol and Amy wanted growing up was to be normal but having a mother with schizoaffective disorder meant they had to hide and pretend so their family could stay together. After Carol’s daughter, Heather, is diagnosed with a disability, Carol begins hearing voices. She fears that she is following in her mother’s footsteps and in her paranoia, she is convinced a diagnosis of schizophrenia will allow the state to take her daughter away and lock them both up. So, she pretends everything is fine.
When Amy tries to get her sister help, Carol threatens to reveal Amy’s secret. Being gay in the 1970s could lose her everything. Amy must decide which is more important, Carol and her niece or hiding who she really is.
Heather suffers from Cerebral Palsy and is covered in disfiguring burns. Only two other people know who burned her and they’re not talking.
How will she tell when her only way to communicate is through her eyes and smile?
This is a story of family and love and what we are willing to do to keep them.