Two children in New Bedford, Mass spend an eventful summer in a beach house with their mother and her boyfriend in Sweet Thing, director Alexandre Rockwell’s celebration of childhood . Billie, a 15-year-old girl who fantasizes Billie Holiday as a sort of fairy godmother, is forced to navigate the evolving challenges of her life while she plays mother to her 11-year-old brother, Nico. They soon meet up with another adolescent, run away from home, and together roam the area free from their parents’ watchful gaze. Discovering freedom and enchantment among New Bedford’s boats and railway tracks, the trio fantasize about a life of luxury when they break into a posh home, and are able to carry the taste of affluence into their adventures. An ode to that trying age when young people prepare to take their first step into adulthood, Sweet Thing is an intense but ultimately uplifting, portrait that captures the essence of that time in life when a day can last forever.