In 1928, sixteen-year-old Minka has to make a decision that will affect her life forever: to give up her newborn daughter Betty Jane for adoption. At a sewing class picnic, Minka was assaulted in the woods by a stranger and becomes pregnant. The family has no way to support the baby, so against her strongest desires, she chooses a better life for Betty Jane. But she can't ever forget her little girl, and for twenty years she writes the adoption home trying to find information about her precioius daughter. At every point in her life, she thinks about how old her daughter would be and what she would be doing at each stage. Minka's strong spirit and perseverance shine as she overcomes many obstacles, especially when her husband returns from the war a different person, and she is forced to raise their two children on her own.
In another household, a little girl named Ruth was raised by a pastor, his wife and their three sons. Always knowing she was adopted, she never felt the need to seek information about her birth family. After raising a large family of her own, it's a curious grandson that sparks Ruth's interest in her birth parents. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine her birth mother had been waiting for her all these years. At 94 years old, Minka is finally reunited with her daughter. The Waiting is a story that will melt your heart, and make you believe in the impossible.