Exploring family bonds and the lengths to which people must go to find themselves, Off and Running is a fresh and poignant documentary about a young woman's search to define herself.

Avery, Ravi and their younger brother Zay-Zay live in a loving Brooklyn home. Adopted by their Jewish lesbian moms, Travis and Tova, the three children don't bear any resemblance to one another. Avery is a gifted runner with a multitude of awards filling her bedroom. She is now old enough to be curious about her African-American biological roots and, with her parents' encouragement, reaches out to her birth mother for the first time . Emboldened by the exchange and the opportunity to discover her own racial and cultural identity, Avery is nonetheless unprepared for the sweeping emotional journey she's embarked upon. Distracted and feeling out of place at home, she begins to distance herself from her path to college and the two women she’s always called her parents. Documenting the highs and lows of this remarkable family is Nicole Opper's ever-present but unobtrusive camera. As Opper herself says, "I knew that in a time when people were voting to ban gay marriage and gay adoption, we needed this story more than ever." -- Carol Coombes