A tough life gets tougher when the three children of a single mom are scheduled to be sent to separate foster homes after her untimely passing.<br /><br />To stay together, the older boy plans a daring, high risk escape to find a distant lost uncle- their only remaining next of kin.<br /><br />Their trek takes the three fearful runaways on a chase through the desert in a classic beetle, penniless, hungry, desperate, terrorized by delinquents and too young to drive, hunted by the ever threatening civil authorities.<br /><br />What the movie lacks in acting and plot realism, it makes up for in the honest human need to be a part of a fulfilled and complete family- even if that family is cobbled together with spare parts of broken lives.<br /><br />Sure, the ending is forced and too over-dramatic for the critical movie goer, but every heart beats the same cry for family togetherness and belonging.<br /><br />With all its weaknesses, I still give this movie a strong recommendation.