After being denied a promotion at the university where she teaches, Doctor Lily Penleric, a brilliant musicologist, impulsively visits her sister, who runs a struggling rural school in Appalachia. There she stumbles upon the discovery of her life - a treasure trove of ancient Scots-Irish ballads, songs that have been handed down from generation to generation, preserved intact by the seclusion of the mountains. With the goal of securing her promotion, Lily ventures into the most isolated areas of the mountains to collect the songs and finds herself increasingly enchanted.
Janet McTeer
as Professor Lily Penleric, PhD
Michael Goodwin
as Professor Wallace Aldrich, PhD
Gregory Russell Cook
as Fate Honeycutt
Jane Adams
as Eleanor 'Elna' Penleric
E. Katherine Kerr
as Harriet Tolliver
Emmy Rossum
as Deladis Slocumb
Pat Carroll
as Viney Butler
Stephanie Roth Haberle
as Alice Kincaid
Aidan Quinn
as Tom Bledsoe
Bart Hansard
as Hilliard
Erin Blake Clanton
as Polly
David Patrick Kelly
as Earl Giddens
