The Importance of Family

Mildred and Richard grow up in a tight-knit community where families are an important part of life, and they depend heavily on that family structure when they become adults with a family of their own. That devotion to family – both their extended families and the family they have created together – is at the heart of their goals and pushes them to continue to fight for their right to live in Virginia as a family.

Mildred and her family live in Washington, D.C. for several years. During that time, she sometimes goes into Virginia while Richard is working. She spends the day with members of her family and is happy to see her children playing in the country. One day in Washington, a car strikes one of her sons, which reiterates her need to move her family permanently back to the country. Mildred...