In this gritty character driven drama, a self-destructive teenager is forced to navigate the loss of her recently deceased mother as she escapes her shit desert hometown via her estranged older half-sister -- whose mysterious past comes to light with a fervor.

SYNOPSIS:

Tonally, Tumbleweeds is a grittier, Mexican-American, “Gilmore Girls”.

Beginning with the death of the matriarch of their family, we understand that Erika (living in Palm Desert), and Rachel (living in Santa Monica) are estranged half sisters. Upon returning to Palm Desert, Rachel, intending to inherit her mother’s life insurance money, learns that her mother has left that money to Erika. Her response is to pry Erika from the custody of her resentful aunt and cousins -- and uproot Erika's life to Santa Monica.

Unbeknownst to them both, their aunt has been scheming alongside their family's lawyer (who she is secretly romantically involved with) to steal and run away with all of the life insurance money.

In Santa Monica, culture-shocked and impressionable – Erika finds herself making friends with a group of runaways while Rachel works her day job at a cafe on the pier. Erika becomes infatuated with a misfit who introduces her to weed, the ocean and the idea of emancipation. She teeter-totters between trying to preserve who she truly is while being pressured into someone she’s not. This back and forth is the engine for discussing how the majority of Mexican-Americans feel during adolescence in relation to identity vs self: who am I? vs who does the world believe I am supposed to be?

Rachel drags Erika back to the desert to confront the family's lawyer - but is devastated to find his offices closed for good. They take the opportunity to revisit the cliffside their mother crashed on and cathartically hash out their memories – understanding that they were raised by two different versions of the same crazy woman.

Through continuing heart-tugging flashbacks, we piece together an ongoing, underlining puzzle that is Rachel and Erika's true relationship: As mother and daughter.

TUMBLEWEEDS