Gavin OConnor directed, co-wrote and plays a major supporting role in this drama about a mother and daughter coming to terms with each others problems. In Tumbleweeds, Janet McTeer plays Mary Jo Walker, a single mother with a long string of bad marriages and a habit of hitting the road when things start to turn sour. Her 12-year-old daughter Ava (Kimberly J. Brown) has learned to live with her Moms nomadic ways and comfortably slips into the pattern of each new town. At the films outset, Mary Jo and Ava depart Missouri for San Diego, California, with Mary Jo falling for a rough-hewn trucker named Jack (Gavin OConnor) along the way. Once in San Diego, Mary Jos relationship with Jack fails to run smoothly and her new job presents more than its share of challenges, while Ava has romantic problems of her own when she gains her first boyfriend. McTeer, an established stage actress in England, made her American screen debut in this film, which also features notable character actor Michael J. Pollard as Mary Jos eccentric boss. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide