Plot

An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.

Based on the bestselling memoir by J.D. Vance, HILLBILLY ELEGY is a modern exploration of the American Dream and three generations of an Appalachian family as told by its youngest member, a Yale Law student forced to return to his hometown.—Netflix

The film opens in Jackson, Kentucky in 1997. J.D. is looking back to this time, his teenage years. He is visiting his family with his grandparents and Mom, Bev. They go back home to Ohio.

Fourteen years later, J.D. is attending Yale and working three jobs. He is dating a young woman, Usha. She has a summer internship in Washington D.C. and J.D. hopes to get one there as well. He attends an event to network in hopes of landing the internship. He gets a call from his sister, Lindsay because his mom is in the hospital after overdosing on heroin. Lindsay is overwhelmed by the situation as she works and has three children. She asks J.D. to come home, which he feels conflicted about as it is interview week at Yale.

He remembers growing up and conflicts he had with his mom, who is mentally and emotionally unstable. He was a fan of Joe Montana and collected his cards. As they are driving, his mom tells him she wants to move them in with her boyfriend. Bev starts driving like she wants to get in a wreck and then beats J.D. He runs out of the car to a house and calls the police who come and arrest Bev.

Back in 2011 J.D. starts to drive to Ohio. In 1997 his grandparents come to pick him up as J.D. lies to the police about his mom hitting him and they let her go. In 2011 he arrives at the hospital as his mom is yelling at the nurse. She will be discharged because she has no health insurance. J.D. is called and offered an interview for the following morning.

In 1997 his grandfather dies and the family has a funeral. Bev works as a nurse and steals drugs. She gets high, acts silly, and gets fired and later freaks out over her father's death. In 2011 J.D. and Lindsey find Bev a bed at a drug rehabilitation facility and J.D. remembers how it's never worked for her in the past. J.D. pays for her rehab but Bev refuses to do it as soon as he pays.

In 1997 J.D., Lindsey, and Bev move into her bosses and new husband, Ken's house. Bev won't quit taking drugs. J.D.'s grandmother falls and is hospitalized with pneumonia. He starts vandalizing and acting out with his new step-brother, Travis and his friends. They wreck a car. In 2011 Bev's boyfriend throws her stuff out of his apartment. In 1997 J.D.'s grandmother takes him to live with her and helps him to avoid trouble and succeed in school.

He grows up, joins the Marines, goes home when his grandmother dies, and uses the G.I. Bill to go to college. In 2011 J.D. gets his mom a motel room and some food and drives back to Yale for his interview.