It stars John Cusack as a father who cannot bring himself to tell his two daughters that their mother, a soldier in the U.S. Army, has just been killed on a tour of duty in Iraq.

Stanley Phillips is a middle-aged Army veteran in Chicago caring for his two daughters, 12-year-old Heidi and 8-year-old Dawn, while his wife, Grace, serves in Iraq.

Unable to, he instead spontaneously decides to take them on a road trip to Enchanted Gardens, a Florida theme park that the girls have been wanting to visit.

The following afternoon at a gas station, Stanley calls their answering machine again, leaving a message saying he wished it'd been him that'd been deployed instead of Grace.

At their hotel, Heidi calls home and hears Stanley's message to Grace, growing even more suspicious.

In April 2005, writer and director James C. Strouse began developing the script with his wife, producer Galt Niederhoffer.

[1] Strouse wrote the role of Stanley Phillips with John Cusack in mind, and said the story was partly inspired by a trip he took with his two nieces to a theme park after his brother’s divorce.

[19][20][21] Said Strouse, "By the time they released it, we were at the tail end of Iraq War film failures and the company didn’t do much to try and distinguish us from the pack.

The site's critical consensus reads, "A refreshing departure from the current crop of Iraq war dramas, Grace is Gone is a heartfelt, finely acted portrayal of grief and healing.

[21][12][25] Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote the "small, tender film about contemporary parenthood in wartime carries off a delicate balancing act.

"[21] Awarding the film 3/4 stars, Roger Ebert wrote that the "story drags its feet a little…considering we know where they're going and what must happen when they get [to the theme park].

[12] Elizabeth Weitzman of the Daily News opined, "This is a movie that lobs even appropriate criticisms from a safe distance, a flaw its strengths can't overcome.

"[25] Of the young actresses, Weitzman said, "Bednarczyk's natural instincts put most programmed Hollywood moppets to shame, and the quietly affecting O'Keefe shows genuine talent.

They convey an honest confusion that is consistently more powerful than the black and white (or red and blue) politics that divide the film around them.