American Woman 2019

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.

Detective Sergeant Morris begins an investigation into Bridget’s disappearance, and Deb insists that Tyler is responsible, claiming she believes he has abused Bridget. Feeling helpless in the efforts to find Bridget, Debra seeks solace in Brett, a married man with whom she is having an affair. When Brett fails to meet with her for one of their trysts, she drunkenly confronts him and his wife in their home, and smashes various items in the kitchen. She then leaves, driving recklessly before removing her hands from the steering wheel and crashing down an embankment, attempting suicide. However, she survives the event unscathed.

Several years later, Bridget’s disappearance has turned into a cold case, and Deb is raising Jesse. Her boyfriend Ray, a refinery worker, has moved into her home. Ray is controlling and abusive toward Deb and Jesse, but she tolerates it as he gives her financial support while she attends a local college. However, she eventually forces him out of the home when he violently beats her in front of Jesse after inquiring about what time she got home the previous night with friends. Deb continues to hold vigils on Bridget’s passing birthdays, and reunites with Tyler, who has recently completed drug rehabilitation, allowing him to visit with Jesse. Tyler tells Deb that he blames her for his drug addiction, as she publicly accused him in Bridget’s disappearance. Deb apologizes, and explains she has not suspected him in Bridget’s disappearance in a long time. Tyler tries to build a relationship with Jesse, but is unsuccessful.

Upon finishing college, Debra finds work as a human resources supervisor at a local assisted living facility, where her mother, Peggy, eventually comes to live after having a stroke. Some time later, Katherine encourages Debra to begin dating, and plans a double date with Chris, a friend of Terry’s. Debra is initially impervious to Chris’s advances, but the two become close quickly and marry after eight weeks of dating. Chris develops a close fatherly relationship with Jesse, now an adolescent. After several years, however, Debra and Chris’s relationship deteriorates and she discovers he is having an affair. She confronts him before kicking him out of her home.

One day, 11 years after Bridget went missing, Sergeant Morris arrives at Debra’s work to notify her that a serial killer has led them to Bridget’s remains, which they unearthed in a shallow grave. Debra goes to visit Bridget’s killer in jail hoping to learn of her daughter’s fate. Later, Sergeant Morris brings Debra and Jesse to the crime scene where Bridget’s remains were discovered. Debra sobs, and lies in her daughter’s shallow grave.

Some time later, Debra decides to sell her house and move away with Jesse to start a new life. She has a garage sale which Chris visits. He tells her he still loves her, but Debra is not forthcoming to his advances and bids him goodbye. After the sale, Debra and Jesse say emotional goodbyes to Katherine, Terry, and Peggy, before driving away toward their new home.