This fact-based TV movie stars JoBeth Williams as Pam Willis, a case worker for the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women. In the course of a standard investigation, Pam comes upon Laura Keyes (Kellie Martin), a 14-year-old deafmute girl who has been locked up since childhood and never taught sign language. Even worse, Laura has endured a lifetime of unspeakable abuse at the hands of her father. Taking Laura under her wing, Pam endeavors to teach the terrified girl how to communicate and function in the "outside" world--and in the process, awakens the soul that has been so long buried within Laura's battered consciousness. This mission turns out to be a desperate race against time when Laura's bestial father begins scouring the slums in search of his "runaway" daughter. Breaking Through debuted December 30, 1996 on ABC.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
