To make ends meet, people in the U.S. are working longer hours across multiple jobs. This modern reality of non-stop work has resulted in an unexpected phenomenon: the flourishing of 24-hour daycare centers. Through the Night is a verité documentary that explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a childcare provider—whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center.
The film follows a mother who works the overnight shift at a hospital; another holding down three jobs to support her family; and a woman who for two decades has cared for children of parents with nowhere else to turn. Over the span of two years, across working holidays, seven-day work weeks, and around-the-clock shifts, the film reveals the personal cost of rising wealth inequality in the U.S and the close bonds forged between parents, children, and caregivers.