Huddled under an overpass on a winter morning, Sam finishes carving her latest mural into the concrete pillar of the underpass she calls home. It's a message of some kind, a message for the Mutes; the name humanity has given to the alien vessel tracking towards Earth from beyond the solar system.

Years of being passed from foster home to foster home have left Sam fighting for a sense of belonging. With one hand she reaches for the Mutes while the other is pulled back towards the Earth when one of the only friends she has ever known leads the authorities straight to her.