What happens to children when their mothers are incarcerated? In prisons throughout the United States, 80% of all female inmates are incarcerated for non-violent offenses, and 80% are mothers of vulnerable children. This sensitive documentary is an up -close look at children coping with their mother's incarcerations. The children lay bare their longings and their desire for love. Each story illustrates policy gaps between the judicial and social service systems that are supposed to serve them. More than 250,000 children in the U.S suffer daily being separated from their mothers. They are often left in the custody of extended family members where their needs are misunderstood, where poverty prevails and where they suffer emotional neglect and abuse. These children are six times more likely than their peers to end up in prison. Indeed the system of justice perpetuates the very problems it seeks to prevent.When the Bough Breaks -- Children of Mothers in Prison is a powerful reminder that the system must be changed if these children are to have an emotionally healthy future.