American Woman

In 1998, in a rural small-town in Pennsylvania, Deb Callahan is a 33-year-old single mother residing with her teenage daughter, Bridget, and Bridget's infant son Jesse. Deb had Bridget when she was 16 years old and Bridget's father is not in the picture. They live directly across the street from her older sister, Katherine, Katherine's husband Terry, and their children. Deb and Katherine have a loving but tempestuous relationship, as the reserved Katherine is critical of Deb's recklessness and her affairs with men. It is a similar relationship to that of Deb and her mother, Peggy. One night, Deb babysits Jesse so Bridget can go on a date with Tyler, Jesse's father, with whom Bridget has had an on-and-off relationship. The next morning, Deb realizes Bridget has not returned home. She calls around frantically and questions Tyler, who claims he and Bridget argued and that she went to her friend Jenna's home. Jenna tells Deb that Bridget left late that evening, saying she was going to walk home.