Set in 1974, the film centers on three siblings from Texas — Kenneth (Jesse James (actor)), Charlotte (Adrien Finkel), and Dana Minor (Devon Graye) — who are left living with their abusive, alcoholic mother Marilyn (Rosanna Arquette) after their father's death. Marilyn commits Dana, who is autism, to an institution, allowing doctors to perform medical experiments on him. Kenneth and Charlotte break their younger brother out of the asylum, and the three siblings set out on a road trip, intending to travel from Texas to their grandmother's home in Oregon. They are joined by a hippie named Travis (Alexander Carroll).