Almost Home (2015)

Rachel Baines is a mature and responsible 11-year-old girl with a lot on her mind. With her father again stationed overseas as an Army advisor, Rachel's mom, Valerie, holds down things on the home front. Life is tough but this is nothing new for a woman married to a career military man. Valerie spends her days as the office manager at an accounting firm and her nights taking care of the home that belongs to her dad, Doyle. Rachel's grandfather is a recent widower, now a resident at a nearby nursing home. A latch key kid, each afternoon Rachel makes the short trek from the school bus stop to this empty home, but always under the watchful eye of Miss Edna, the caring, but nosy, neighbor. The widow of the former Police Chief, Edna is practically the town's Neighborhood Watch patrol. Safe within the confines of a securely-locked home Rachel goes about the business of chores and homework. As is often the case, not before first devouring a well-crafted peanut butter sandwich. On this particular day her routine will start and end a little different than usual. Doyle is out for a walk, on a mission it seems, and shows up at the house, his house, unexpectedly. An impatient knock at the door. Rachel answers. "Where's your mother? I need to speak with her; it's urgent," Doyle says. When Rachel replies that her mother is at the grocery, Doyle insists that he needs to speak with her immediately. There is no time to waste. Doyle is an adult - her grandfather, so Rachel reluctantly agrees, leaving her peanut butter sandwich behind. In their search to find Valerie, they get lost. Valerie arrives home to find the chores undone, and Rachel gone. It is then that she encounters Edna and learns that Rachel and Doyle went off together. The concerned mother reveals to Edna that Doyle hasn't been well, and can't understand why the nursing home would let him venture out on a walk. A call to Rachel's cell phone goes unanswered - the battery is nearly dead. This only increases Valerie's concern about the safety of her daughter and father. A search ensues and Valerie must rely on friends, neighbors and a local policeman to find her daughter and father.