In order to see the future, sometimes you have to look to the past.

When a devastating plane crash kills Tate Stonemason's family and mangles his leg, the sixteen-year-old sees his dreams of playing pro baseball shatter. Now living with his great-grandfather Abbott and great-aunt Vidalia, Tate is bitter and angry, trying desperately to find a way out of his grief. Eager to help her nephew, Aunt Viddy tells him about her childhood -- her time spent with Ethiopia's Clowns, a Depression-era baseball team that traveled and lived in a purple bus. Though Tate finds solace in Aunt Viddy's powerful, joy-filled memories, he still grieves for his former life. Playing ball is all he has ever known; can there be a future without it?