Dustbin Baby (film) - Plot

Plot

On April's fourteenth birthday, Marion, her adoptive mother, gives her earrings, not the mobile phone she wanted. They argue, and April leaves for school. After lying to her friends, claiming she has a phone and is going to the dentist's, April chooses to play truant. While at work at a stately home, Marion hears that April has not arrived at school. She talks to her friend and colleague Elliot, who unsuccessfully tries to dissuade her from leaving. April visits the home of Pat Williams, who cared for her as a baby. Pat remembers April and gives her a newspaper cutting telling the story of her discovery as a baby in a dustbin behind a pizza parlour. In a flashback, a young April is seen living with Janet and Daniel Johnson. The Johnsons' relationship is an abusive one, leading to Janet's suicide. Meanwhile, Marion goes to April's school, where she talks to April's friends, and realises that they were lied to. April then leaves Pat's home, and travels alone to Janet's grave. Marion continues to search, and, in a shopping centre, meets Elliot, who has joined her. April then visits the now abandoned Sunnyholme Children's Home, where she lived when she was younger. In a flashback, an eight-year old April lives at the Sunnyholme. Cared for by a woman named Mo, April befriends an older girl called Gina and is introduced to Pearl, a girl of her age. Pearl behaves in front of Mo, but actually bullies April. Gina wakes April one night to involve her in a burglary, and, later, Pearl attacks April, holding her head under water, and then tears up April's beloved paper dolls. April confronts Pearl, who she pushes down a flight of stairs, and is reprimanded by Mo. A voice-over from 14-year-old April says Gina was then "moved on", and, eventually, April is also moved on.

The flashback jumps forward to April's time at Fairdale Residential School. She befriends Poppy, who has Asperger syndrome. In the present, Marion buys a mobile phone for April. Back at Fairdale, April is being taught by Miss Bean (Marion). A piece of work on family trees leads to the pair fighting. At night, April tries to escape the school to find Gina, but is caught by Marion, who sends her back. Marion reads April's records, and, having learnt of her history, apologises for the family tree incident. Banned from going out on a Saturday with her peers, April is instead taken to the stately home by Marion. A present-day Marion goes alone to her house, to find that there are no messages on the phone. The younger Marion introduces April to Elliot as they continue to visit the home. The present-day Marion goes to April's room, and looks in April's box, which contains mementos from different times in her life. The younger April and Marion walk through the home's garden, and Marion tells April she is leaving Fairdale. April becomes angry, thinking that Marion, like others before her, is now going to leave her life. Marion invites April to move in with her, and she accepts. When shown around her new bedroom, April's first concern is to have somewhere to put her box. The present April considers returning to Marion, but realises there is another place she wants to visit. It occurs to Marion where April will be going, and she drives away from her house. April goes to the street where she was found as a baby, and stands among the bins. Marion opens April's mobile and rings Reno's, the pizza parlour. April then notices a phone number on the side of a dustbin. Marion asks for directions to the pizza parlour, while April dials the number she found. It is not her mother who answers, as she hoped, but Frankie, the pizza boy who found her. She meets Frankie in the pizza parlour, and Marion arrives. April explains who Frankie is, and Marion gives April her new phone. The three sit down together. A voice-over from April says that, though she will probably never know her real mother, she has a mother in Marion, and this is just the beginning.