Find Her

Twelve-year-old Wren MacIntosh lives in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, a small town within the Cherokee Nation, a sovereign tribal nation. She lives with her father, Police Chief William P. MacIntosh, and her grandmother, Elisi (the Cherokee word for grandmother). Wren is of mixed Cherokee and white heritage, and her mother, Raven MacIntosh, has been missing for over five years. Each night, Wren touches the turquoise pendant around her neck, a necklace matching one her mother wore, and whispers a prayer into the darkness.

At Fort Gibson Middle School, Wren is largely friendless, having withdrawn into herself while classmates stay away out of discomfort about her missing mother or intimidation by her father's position. Her closest relationship is with Elisi, whose circle of Cherokee women friends shares memories of Raven. Worried that Wren spends too much time searching for her mother online, Elisi recognizes Wren's natural gift for locating lost pets and encourages her to channel it into something positive. Wren prints bright yellow flyers and distributes them around town, advertising herself as a "Finder of Lost Things."

Wren also searches for clues about her mother's case. She visits the police station while her father meets with the mayor, deliberately arriving early to access the missing persons file on his cabinet. Her father refuses to share case information, citing protocol, which fuels Wren's frustration and, in her mind, justifies her snooping.

When a repeat client, Susan Taylor, reports her Jack Russell terrier J.R. missing, Wren takes the case. She places items with familiar scents in a nearby pasture but returns to find J.R. bleeding badly from a gunshot wound. Surgery saves his life, but Wren is shaken. At dinner, she demands her father investigate, but he insists a formal report must be filed first and that crimes against people take priority.

At the Fort Gibson Animal Shelter, Landry, the shelter's sole operator, helps Wren get Susan's formal report and confides that there have been several recent incidents of animal abuse. He later returns with a dead animal in a black plastic bag, one he believed was a tabby but tortured so badly it was difficult to identify. That night, Wren becomes convinced the same person is responsible for all the incidents. Remembering her Wolf Clan identity from annual visits with Elisi to the Cherokee National History Museum in Tahlequah, where she learned that Wolf Clan members are protectors, she resolves to find the perpetrator.

During a tense dinner, Wren demands to know if her father even cares about finding her mother. Elisi, usually restrained, speaks up powerfully, telling him his silence sometimes feels like a second form of torture. The family's frustration deepens when a TV news segment devotes saturating coverage to a missing white girl while cases like Raven's receive almost none. Elisi gently redirects Wren's anger, explaining that the missing are not to blame; the fault lies with those who decide whose stories matter. Elisi later makes matching red silk cord bracelets as symbols of solidarity with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) movement, which highlights the disproportionate violence against Indigenous peoples and the lack of attention their cases receive.

Wren creates a "murder board," a whiteboard mapping the abuse cases using reports she secretly photographed at Landry's office. In English class, she is paired with classmate Brantley Sims for a presentation on leaving a shared legacy. When Elisi inadvertently reveals the murder board during Brantley's first visit to Wren's house, he insists on joining the investigation, revealing he recently lost a pet himself. During his visits, Wren notices bruises and cuts he unconvincingly blames on bike accidents. Brantley also reveals that his mother chose to leave the family, creating a painful parallel with Wren's own loss.

The two partners map six abuse locations, circling a target area where the perpetrator likely lives or works. Meanwhile, Wren endures harassment from Meagan Jacobs (M.J.), the mayor's daughter, who mocks Wren's Cherokee heritage and missing mother. While searching her father's home office, Wren discovers her mother's turquoise necklace hidden in a drawer. Her father explains it had been taken for repair before Raven disappeared and admits he kept it for himself. Wren forgives him, recognizing he has been hurting too, and the wall of resentment between them begins to crack.

Her father then returns home unexpectedly to tell Wren and Elisi that remains have been found that could be Raven's. Wren screams and collapses, nauseated. The remains are sent for DNA examination, which could take weeks. At school, Wren insists fiercely that the remains are not her mother's and asks Brantley to believe it with her. He agrees.

The investigation advances when Wren remembers that Susan has security cameras across the street from where the tortured animal was found. Susan gives Wren her login credentials. Wren gently presses Brantley about his injuries, and he finally admits his father gets angry and takes it out on whichever son is closest. Reviewing the security footage together, they spot a truck that stayed near the crime scene for 45 minutes. Brantley recognizes the vehicle by a dent he caused: It belongs to his brother. Shaken, he asks Wren to wait before reporting it, wanting proof before making things harder for his brother, who already endures worse treatment from their father.

On Halloween, Wren spots Brantley's brother tying a German shepherd into his truck. She leaves frantic voicemails for Landry and follows on her bike but loses the truck. Brantley calls to say his brother has driven behind their garage with the dog. Wren races to the house. Inside the garage, she finds the shepherd chained to a worktable and Brantley unconscious on the floor, knocked out when he tried to intervene. When the dog lunges at Brantley's brother, creating a distraction, Wren grabs a shovel and strikes him. He collapses. Outside, her father, Landry, and officers are already waiting; Landry had called for backup.

Brantley's brother survives with stitches. When Brantley's father arrives and raises his fist at Brantley, Wren's father intercepts, pins Mr. Sims's arm behind his back, and warns him that child abuse is his business. The investigation of the garage uncovers journals showing Brantley's brother was escalating from animal abuse toward plans to harm people. At the police station, Wren gives her statement to Marshal Stephenson of the Cherokee Marshal Service, who takes the case because Wren's father has a conflict of interest. Brantley is cleared of involvement; the journal also reveals that his pet iguana, Steve, the pet he had cryptically mentioned losing, was one of his brother's earliest victims.

In the aftermath, Wren adopts the rescued shepherd, naming him Kona. In English class, she stands before her classmates and publicly identifies M.J. as a bully who has harassed her since third grade, asking for it to stop. Brantley raises his hand and identifies his father as a bully, requesting the same. The school principal contacts Child Protective Services about Brantley's father.

When the results finally arrive, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation confirms the remains are not a match for Raven MacIntosh. Wren's legs buckle. Elisi rocks back and forth, clutching her red cord bracelet. Her father puts his head in his hands. Each family member processes the news privately, deciding whether this is good news or bad, still without answers. For Wren, the result renews her purpose. In the final scene, mirroring the opening, she stands at her window under the night sky, touching her turquoise pendant. This time, instead of a question, she whispers a promise: "I will find her" (208).