A retelling of real-life events, CHANGELING documents the harrowing circumstances a Los Angeles mother faced when the city's severely corrupt and inept police department forced her to take in a child who wasn't hers. In March 1928, 9-year-old Walter Collins vanished without a trace, only to be found five months later -- or so the cops claimed. Although his mother, Christine (
Angelina Jolie), knows immediately that he isn't her son, she's pressured to take him home, convinced by police Captain J.J. Jones (
Jeffrey Donovan) that she's merely in shock. But she quickly regrets her decision and pushes back, insisting that the search for Walter be renewed. Cops and higher-ups, anxious to rid themselves of a public relations mess, throw her into a psych ward, but Christine is resolute, especially when she discovers she has the backing of a local preacher (
John Malkovich) hell-bent on unmasking the police department's faults. In the meantime, a wayward teen (Eddie Alderson) may hold the answers to Walter's disappearance.