Cherilyn Yazzie grew up on the Navajo Nation, and after years of working in public health, she has returned to her ancestral land to grow produce for her community. As a social worker, she tired of telling kids to eat healthy, though living in a food desert made it impossible; there are 13 grocery stores on the Navajo Nation, a reservation that is over 27,000 square miles. Cherilyn's return to her grandparents' farm is a step towards remedying this situation.

Shot over the course of several months, Big Water Summer chronicles Cherilyn and her husband's effots to produce their biggest crop to date in hopes of improving access to healthy options. Unfortunately, things on the farm don't go as planned. Drought, family loss and an unexpected opportunity both undermine and sharpen their goals.