Based on her riveting memoir, North of Normal follows Cea Sunrise Person’s unconventional childhood in the wilderness, her complicated relationship with her perpetually pot-smoking teen mom, and her incredible path to a version of normalcy on the runways of Paris.

After six years spent in the Yukon wilderness with her grandparents, fourteen-year-old Cea Sunrise Person reunites with her mother, Michelle, in North Bay. It’s not only Cea’s first time living in a city, but her first time living alone with her mom, without any terrible boyfriends getting in the way. It’s what Cea has always wanted. But when Michelle starts dating her married boss, Cea realizes that even though the surroundings are different, not much has changed. So, when she learns about a model search, which would send the winner to Paris with promises of a glamorous career, she decides to audition. Michelle is dismissive; modeling represents everything their counterculture family hates about modern society. But Cea sees it as a lifeline; an opportunity to provide for her mom, so she doesn’t need to rely on any more unreliable men. Cea loses the contest, but her disappointment is compounded when she learns that even if she had won, her mother wasn’t planning to go with her, choosing instead to stay behind with her boyfriend. Michelle says she’s trying to build a family for them, but Cea thinks their family is already complete, and a revolving door of boyfriends gets in the way – and sometimes does serious harm. Realizing Michelle is never going to choose Cea over the current man in her life, Cea decides to become the self-sufficient woman she wishes her mom could be, charting her own path to a modeling career in Paris, with an inspiring combination of grit and resilience.