| Director | Ron Howard |
|---|---|
| Budget | $45 million |
| Box office | $38,852 |
JD Vance looks back on his childhood in Middletown, Ohio, where he was raised by his mother Beverly "Bev" and her parents from Jackson, Kentucky. In 1997, then 13-year-old JD and his older sister, Lindsay, struggle with their mother's drug addiction and unstable behavior.
After an argument while driving, Bev threatens to crash the car before attacking JD, causing him to flee to a nearby house. After Bev breaks through the door to drag JD away; he lies to keep her from being arrested. Soon afterwards, Bev's father, Papaw, dies. She is later fired for her erratic behavior and for stealing pills during work hours, causing her to have a violent breakdown in front of the entire neighborhood. After a series of boyfriends, Bev marries her new boss but is unable to detox.
JD often spends time with his maternal grandmother, Bonnie "Mamaw" Vance, who struggles to keep her daughter in line. She reluctantly convinces JD to give his mother clean urine for a drug test to keep her job. Mamaw is later hospitalized with pneumonia while JD's grades start to slip as he begins acting out with his new stepbrother and their friends. JD joins them in drinking, drugs, and vandalism, before they crash Mamaw's car. Lindsay informs Mamaw, who discharges herself from the hospital and takes in JD to live with her.
Stern but well-meaning, Mamaw attempts to curb JD's outbursts after he is caught shoplifting a graphing calculator for school, warning JD that someone will need to care for the family when she is gone, and that he has the choice to make something of himself. Realizing how much Mamaw is struggling to support them both, JD finds a job and begins to excel in school, later joining the United States Marine Corps. He returns home when Mamaw dies, before serving in Iraq. After his tour, JD uses the "new GI bill" to attend college.
In 2011, an adult JD (age 27 at this point) works three jobs to put himself through Yale Law School. He hopes to secure a summer internship in Washington, D.C., with his girlfriend Usha, but Lindsay calls him with the news that Bev has overdosed on heroin. Driving home to Middletown, JD struggles to find a rehab facility for his mother, and is offered a last chance for a job interview the following morning. Despite feeling overwhelmed, JD refuses Usha's offer to come and help.
Bev refuses to return to rehab, causing her most recent boyfriend to throw Bev out of his apartment. With Lindsay raising her own family, JD takes Bev to a motel, but discovers her using heroin in the bathroom. Wrestling the needle away from Bev, JD urges her not to give up, and leaves his mother with Lindsay as he departs for New Haven. He calls Usha, who keeps him company on the phone as he drives through the night. Surprising her in the morning, JD arrives in time for his interview.
An epilogue reveals that JD graduated from Yale and published his memoir. He and Usha married and had children, moving to Ohio to be near his family, including Lindsay and Bev, who has been sober for six years.