Adam and Cleo Hart, an educated and well-respected couple live in Boston.  Cleo who has tried to help their eldest daughter Gina overcome an addiction to Heroin is hit with the shocking news that Gina has overdosed.  The Harts frantically weigh their options for finding a cure. Cleo, an aspiring artist frustrated by her environmentalist husband’s frequent trips to the Amazon to continue a perilous battle to protect the rain forest, petitions to continue conventional treatment. Adam, impressed by the medical track record of the Kayapó tribe, noted for its success with little-known native treatments, insists on rushing Gina off to the Amazon where he is convinced the tribe’s shaman will find a cure. Cleo, deeply concerned by the risks of this unconventional approach, protests but her pleas fall on deaf ears. As Adam prepares to leave with their daughter, Cleo swells with anger and feels the distance between herself and her husband widening.

When Cleo gets word that Adam is returning from his cure quest earlier than expected, she is confused but excited that she’ll soon see Gina again.  But only Adam steps out of a cab that has pulled up blasting into reality the fear that Cleo has been harboring. Gina is dead. Convinced that it was Adam’s irresponsibility that killed their daughter, Cleo turns her back on him and begins her descent into dark thoughts of revenge. Adam, realizing that the last remnants of his marriage are now destroyed, returns to the Amazon to track down the killer of an environmentalist compatriot.

Riddled with anguish, regret and hatred, Cleo desperately tries to salvage her life and maintain her relationships with her adolescent daughter, Eleanor and her teenage son, Orin. Comforted by painting, Cleo turns her thoughts to her budding art career at an upcoming premier exhibition of her work. When the owner of the gallery announces that an anonymous collector has purchased all of her paintings, Cleo is overjoyed both at the financial windfall and the impact a sell-out will have on her professional reputation. Her elation dissolves, however, when she discovers that the mysterious buyer to be Adam’s estranged cousin, Gus, the CEO of a powerful multinational corporation. Sensing Gus’ purchase to be a shrouded attempt to rekindle family relationships that were destroyed years ago, Cleo refuses to endorse the sale until she is convinced that spurning the opportunity will be a serious mistake. After begrudgingly completing the deal and unsuccessfully resisting Gus’ attempts to get reacquainted, Cleo finds herself believing that Adam and his family have misjudged him and eventually realizes that she has fallen in love with him.

When a mysterious helicopter crash in the depths of the Amazon kills Adam, a troubling chain of revelations unfold at the hands of El, who steadfastly refuses to believe claims that the incident was an accident. As she relentlessly pursues evidence that her father was murdered, El surfaces information that implicates Gus as the mastermind behind the killing, something that confirms her intuition that his relationship with Cleo is a cover for a devious plot, something her mother rejects outright.

When her bid to convince authorities to pursue a murder investigation is unsuccessful, El enlists Orin to exact revenge on Gus by sabotaging his car’s brakes. As he watches Gus pull out of the parking garage, Orin is horrified to see that his mother is in the car with him. Knowing that a crash is imminent, Orin desperately tries to stop the car but by the time Cleo notices his frantic waving, Gus has already chosen to ignore Orin and drives away. Shortly thereafter, Gus coldly admits his role in Adam’s murder and reveals that he is not the only one in the car with bloodstained hands. Reminding Cleo of her decision to withhold information that would have warned Adam of his peril, Gus points out that she, too, played a role in his death. As the shock of the conversation settles over Cleo, Gus suddenly realizes his brakes have failed. As the two frantically try to control the car it crashes, killing Gus and paralyzing Cleo.

As the final scene of Ground Cover plays out, Cleo lies strapped to a respirator attempting to come to grips with the events of her life. Voiceless, she can only listen as a guilt-ridden Orin comes to her side to confess that he caused the accident that destroyed her. Although Cleo is able to convey her forgiveness through blinking her eyes, the only motion she is now capable of, Orin, nevertheless, remains emotionally shattered.

Desperate to end her misery, Cleo turns to her daughter for help. Aware of her mother’s role in Adam’s murder, El angrily prolongs Cleo’s suffering by refusing to retrieve a living will that will allow her mother to die. After days of torment, El returns to her mother’s hospital room and reveals that she has had a change of heart. As an act of love and reconciliation and an illustration of her newfound understanding of the life decisions her mother has made, El gives doctors the will and watches as the life support machines are disconnected and Cleo slips away. Finally at peace, El walks out the door and in to a new life.

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