| Director | Eric Lin |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Box office | $285,983 |
Irene is a terminally ill widow who lives with her 17-year-old son Joe in the San Gabriel Valley of southern California. Since being diagnosed with schizophrenia, Joe has been seeing a therapist and taking medication. Irene hides the fact of her cancer diagnosis from Joe. Joe is a former star student and swimmer, whose schizophrenia symptoms worsen. Joe is usually dropped off at therapy sessions, but one day Irene decides to join Joe in a session, where the therapist has Joe reminisce of a happy time. Joe recounts a memory where Irene, his father, and Joe are dancing and singing in a motel at night.
Irene and Joe are eating food while listening to the radio talk about recent school shooting events. Joe turns up the volume before Irene turns it off. Joe has an active shooter drill at school and is overwhelmed. Immediately afterward, he has a psychotic break in which he runs between empty classrooms and destroys school property. The school discovers the damage, and also that Joe has sneaked into the school pool at night with friends. School administrators bring this situation to Irene, but she dismisses their suggestion to transfer Joe to another school with allegedly better resources to manage Joe's condition.
Joe stops taking his medication, and has more frequent episodes with bursts of violence. He shatters his iPad screen, destroys rooms, and eventually self-harms. One day, Irene finds Joe's laptop open with browser tabs on school shooting events (notably incidents from Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and Aurora, Colorado). Irene finds Joe in his room with the television volume turned up while the news details of victims and weapons. Irene tells Joe's therapist about his recent concerning search history. Irene also visits a local gun shop to check on whether Joe has visited the shop, and the shop owner confirms that Joe has visited and was interested in a gas mask.
Irene’s doctor tells her the experimental drug she is taking for her cancer is not working, and she only has months to live. Joe is arrested for jaywalking at night. Picking Joe up at the police station, Irene learns that upon Joe's 18th birthday, she will have much less control over Joe’s medical care.
Joe has another episode after learning that Irene plans to sell the printing shop. He goes missing, and his friends try to locate him. Irene drives around the city to look for Joe, while putting up missing person flyers. After a couple of days, Irene receives a call that Joe has been spotted at the same motel where his happy memories took place. Irene finds Joe behind a dumpster and takes him home. She visits her friend who owns an herbal medicine shop and drops off the deed to her printing shop, so the friend will get the money when it’s sold. She also visits the gun shop again and has a conversation with the owner.
Upon Joe's 18th birthday, Irene takes Joe to the motel that he has fond memories of. After eating cake, Irene gives Joe white sneakers, and Joe suggests to Irene that they should stay in the motel room forever so no one can bother them. Once Joe falls asleep, Irene meticulously cleans the room, then goes to her car to make a call to her friend to burn pictures of their family. Irene returns to the motel room and fatally shoots Joe. She is distraught over her actions and calls the police to turn herself in. She is arrested, but dies from her cancer before she can be tried in court. The friend prepares to burn the pictures, but blows out the match instead.