Looking to leave their run-down life behind, little Sammy Ayers and his mother, Lillian (Bernadette Peters), board a bus bound for Georgia hoping for a new start. But Sammy's dream is soon dashed when he awakens the following morning next to an empty seat. His mother has vanished! He responds by shutting himself off from the world and pretending not to hear or speak. Bus station manager Norman Jenkins (Tom Skerritt) and waitress Lucille (Judith Ivey) befriend young Sammy and offer him a place to stay. For the next twenty years, Sammy (Mathew Modine) continues to pull the wool over the eyes of everyone in town by remaining silent. When he overhears a scheme that could hurt the people he loves, he enlists the help of an unlikely ally -the willy local trash hauler (James Earl Jones). Join in the fun as Sammy cleverly turns the table on an entire town!