The Tailings

Fifteen-year-old Jas’s dad has recently died in an accident in the river, but she refuses to believe the story and suspects the town’s mine manager was involved. Meanwhile, new teacher Ruby arrives in town, unaware of what she’ll be dealing with.

After Ruby falsifies her student teaching report, it becomes clear that she’s hiding something from her past. Jas continues her investigation into her dad’s death, which leads her to chase down the strange man from outside his funeral.

Jas meets one of her dad’s work colleagues, who tells her he couldn’t have been stoned when he died, as the report suggests. She also learns her dad may have been having an affair. Ruby has flashbacks of a traumatic episode.

Ruby has a full-blown panic attack in the classroom as she revisits the traumatic death of a past student. After Jas gets into more trouble, her frustrated grandmother reveals that her dad did have a secret, sending Jas on another search.

Jas finds Marcel hoping to get answers, but he’s grieving and tells her how much her dad loved her. Distraught, she returns to school and makes a scene. Ruby makes her promise to stop her investigation, but Jas discovers another clue.

Jas figures out the truth behind her dad’s death and reveals it at a school meeting, changing everything for the small town. As Jas finally grieves for her dad, Ruby is also able to face the pain of her own past.