Pono, a tenacious seven-year old boy lives with his family in a five-story tree house deep in the rainforest of Hawaii's Manoa Valley. Pono's father provides critical ancestral knowledge through cultural transmission to his youngest descendant. After tragedy strikes the family, Pono's mother (Rachel) blames her youngest son for the loss and repeatedly pushes him away. Pono, is the only son, however, with the cultural knowledge to help his mother resolve her growing inner conflict between Christianity (religion) and Hawaiian spirituality. In order for Rachel to reconcile her guilt and grief over this tragic loss is to concede to the Hawaiian culture through the encouragement of the son she has alienated. Can Rachel take this small step toward hope or is the family doomed to break apart.