Wendy’s life is trashed. Her marriage has imploded, Parkinson’s dyskinesia shakes her body and spirit, and her days as a player and coach are gone. After one last violent confrontation, she flees small-town Colorado and boards a train back to Oakland, CA—the gritty hometown she once escaped—desperate for a new start.

But Oakland is broken, too. Crime, unemployment, and the loss of their beloved A’s have left the city scarred. Haunted by the ghost of Debbie, her tough, no-nonsense mother, Wendy moves in with her sister Annette. Just days after arriving, Annette’s drug-addicted son, JJ, is murdered by the local gang. 

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Wendy goes to work at a local sporting goods store. She forms an unlikely circle of allies: a wisecracking librarian, a loyal cop, and Leonard, her childhood friend turned high-school coach. Leonard’s high school assistant is a baseball firebrand, the spitting image of Wendy at that age. Wendy visits the derelict ballpark she grew up on—graffiti-covered, littered, ruled by gangs. She declares she will restore it for the kids who still dream of playing there.

The vision is bold. But old enemies, street violence, and her own failing health rise against her. Can she rally the community around her and prove that diamonds, even in the dirt, can still shine?