In 1945, a young boy arrives in a small Georgia town on a bus from which his mother was abducted and murdered. Alone he sits quietly and everyone becomes convinced that he is deaf and mute. Deciding that silence offers some power and protection, the boy decides to remain mute and just listens to all that is being said around him by people who think that he cannot hear.
Matthew Modine
as Sammy Ayers
Claire Bloom
as Mrs. Tynan
Judith Ivey
as Lucille
James Earl Jones
as Archibald Thacker
Jerry O'Connell
as Reverend Perry Ray Pruitt
Bernadette Peters
as Helen Ayers
Tom Skerritt
as Norm Jenkins
Anne Bobby
as Tallasse Tynan
Stephen Spinella
as Percy
Jake Weber
as Tolliver Tynan
Frankie Muniz
as Young Sammy Ayers
Hallee Hirsh
as Young Tallasse
