RATH means "a ward of the State." It is a name assigned to all of the orphans in Cambodia. The desire to aid Cambodian refugees launches one American family on a journey of compassion, murder, tragedy, and the occult. It's 1979, and the Vietnamese have just invaded Cambodia, Thousands of refugees flee to the Thai border, hoping to escape the notorious Killing Fields. The acts of Pol Pot and his murderous followers have all but wiped out a generation of educated Cambodians. Herb and Jennifer watch the tragedy unfold on television. Horrified, they decide to become sponsors to a succession of Cambodian refugees seeking safety in the United States. Along the way they learn to incorporate elements of Buddhism and Cambodian culture into their own lives while facing the challenges of cross-cultural differences and language barriers. In doing so, they discover within themselves a deep capacity to help others. When their marriage fails, Herb becomes a single parent of three children while Jennifer relocates to Cambodia. There she finds herself suspected of a brutal murder. A compassionate look at one of southeast Asia's most violent periods, RATH is a true-to-life fictionalized account of Cambodia's lasting effect on one American family who opened their hearts and home to help, and the unforeseen consequences of that decision.