This is such a charming tale that is an import from the British Isles! Frankie is a deaf nine-year-old boy who lives with his mom Lizzie and grandmother Nell. It seems they pick up and move periodically. It is something that he has gotten used to over the years.

Frankie is the most important thing in Nell's life. She would do anything for him. In fact, she felt so bad about the fact that his father has never been a part of his life that she created an imaginary father for him. Frankie writes letters to this imaginary father, who serves as a sailer aboard a freighter called the Accra.

Frankie holds the letters dear. Besides being able to travel the world with his da', which he tracks on a giant world map on his bedroom wall, Frankie confides everything to his dad through their letters.

The family's most recent stop has brought them to Glasgow, Scotland. They have an apartment over a shop. Lizzie gets a job there and becomes quite friendly with the owner. The challenge is that Frankie is really wanting a chance to meet his father, who has been at sea all these years. This is made more of a challenge when a real freighter with the name of Accra docks nearby. Lizzie finds a way to convince one of the sailors to take on the role of the long-absent father for just a day.

It is also at this time that the specter that led to the loss of Frankie's father rears its ugly head again, bringing back dark memories just as Lizzie and Frankie are finding themselves being drawn closer and closer to the sailor.

This is a typical British film that is able to tell a touching story without become melodramatic. It tells the tale of familial love and the definition of love itself while setting in the center of the everyday lives of a single-parent family.