Hope follows artist Ken Paquette, his partner Winnie Peters and their five boys (ages four through fifteen) as they struggle to cope during a year of wrenching change. The family lives on the Schkam Native Reserve, across the river from the town of Hope. The town is a transitory place at the junction of three highways. After 18 years together, Ken and Winnie's troubled relationship dissolves when Rick, a tattooed ex-con, moves in and assumes the role of stepfather. Winnie's eldest son Kenny leaves the home. Ken settles in town, where he sells his paintings outside the local pub, earning enough for rent and the occasional trip to McDonalds with his kids. Over the course of four seasons, the family cycles through poverty, addiction, violence and love, but when winter bleeds into spring, a final confrontation sparks irrevocable change. The directors lived among the family over the course of a year, becoming an intimate part of events. Raw honesty and a deep humanism explode stereotypes, capturing the joy and laughter, as well as the pain of this complex familiy in a fully realized portrait of people and place.