Grace of the Father

Luke Mackenzie suffers the loss of his wife, Kelley who is killed in an automobile accident on a slick county road during a winter snow storm. Within a matter of days, the Mackenzie’s lives are turned upside down. The family travels to the small central Florida town of Mound City for the funeral and Luke, comforted only by the material good fortune of an insurance settlement, decides to stay in Florida and start his own horse ranch. With most of the remaining insurance money, he buys a dilapidated 40 acre former horse farm and settles in to rebuild the farm and start breeding horses again. On the eve of the twins’ 18th birthday, Jacob announces he is leaving and demands his share of their mother’s insurance settlement. Dutifully, Luke agrees and gives his son almost all of the remaining cash. Jacob heads to Las Vegas to meet up with a friend to start a new life and new business venture on his own and they go on a wild frenzy of gambling, cavorting with loose women and ultimately squander all of the money. In the meantime, Luke, with the aid of his other two children and their faith that God will restore everything, rebuild the horse ranch. The ranch becomes very successful. Homeless and about to live on the street, Jacob is befriended by a former lady of the night. She introduces him to God’s grace through a well-worn old book entitled “Coming Home is Easy” and after reading it, he returns home to the waiting arms of his father, who he discovers was always with him. It has taken every ounce of faith Luke possessed to hold his family together and keep them believing in the promises of God.