A Girl Named Sooner (1975): Cast & Plot

Set in the 1930s town of Vevay, Indiana, the story follows Sooner, Susan Deer a girl of unknown parentage who is raised by the elderly backwoods woman Old Mam Hawes, [Cloris Leachman], who earns a living making illegal moonshine. Hawes takes Sooner into town and attempts to collect foster care funds for raising Sooner, but this brings her guardianship into question with the Sheriff Phil Rotteman, [Don Murray]. Soon afterward, a childless couple—Mac, [Richard Crenna] and Elizabeth McHenry, [Lee Remick]—offer to take Sooner in, in the hope that having a child in the house might help Elizabeth out of a long depression. Sooner is welcomed into a fragile, loving home and grows excited about school, eventually enrolling and finding ways to blend into classes after a rough start.