14 year old

old Emma Gingrich lives in one of the most conservative orders of the Amish religion.

Her community in rural Missouri rejects modern technology, not just cars and

tractors, but also running water and electricity.

She wears a long dress and bonnet and makes everything by hand.

She and her 13 brothers and sisters speak a rare dialect of German and have almost no contact with the outside world.

Emma loves school, but she's not allowed to go past the 8th grade. At 14, she's expected to work.

She starts cleaning houses for non-amish people in her area.

It's then that she starts to question the Amish way of life. She doesn't understand why there's so many rules. She hates the secrets the community keeps,

including deeply disturbing secrets about incest.

She's consumed by fear of being judged,

of not living up to expectations.

She begins to rebel in small ways.

She hides a radio in her room and listens to music late at night.

When she turns 16, she's supposed to start dating,

but few of the boys are interested.

She's not like the other girls.

It's not just that other people don't understand her,

she doesn't really understand herself. Why can't she just

accept her fate as an obedient Amish girl? But she can't, and at 18, lonely and depressed, she runs away.

She travels all the way to South Texas.

Life there is hard.

...