After serving ten years for manslaughter, a father struggles to regain custody and win the affection of his children who have bonded with their adoptive parents.
"Manslaughter" -- more serious than mere "assault".
"Ten years" -- A sufficient length of time to guarantee his kids remember little about him, have had ample time to bond with their foster parents.
"Win the affection" --- rather than "win back", assuming they were too young to have bonded with him when they went into foster care. Or their mother may have divorced him, had custody before she died. So again, he didn't have a chance to bond with them. Whatever, it seems to me he would have a harder task to bond with them in the first place.
"Adoptive"-- Could have started out as foster parents. But now the bond is not just emotional but legal. An additional hurdle he must overcome.
fwiw