It is mid- summer as a 1978 Mercedes zooms down the highway, heading west. Inside sit a 14-year-old Ann August (Natalie Portman) and her mother, Adele (Susan Sarandon). Against her will, Ann is being moved to Beverly Hills where Adele, stifled by small town life in Bay City, Wisconsin, hopes to make her colorful dreams come true. Ann is furious at having to leave the life she loves. Adele is tired of defending herself against her daughter's longings for home and family, and feels that she's taking Ann away from a lifeless future and offering her an exciting new world.

Their first stop is the Beverly Hills Hotel, the symbol of Adele's quest; they then head off to a Travelodge motel and what will become their real life - meals at diners and a very ordinary one-bedroom apartment in the flats of Beverly Hills.
Over the next two years, Ann and Adele adjust to the reality of life in Los Angeles. Their relationship is close, but always volatile. Adele remains on the outside looking in, always wanting more. Ann is the realist, seeing things for what they are, sometimes more the mother than the daughter.
Together, mother and daughter are on a journey of discovery - of new possibilities, of their respective dreams and of each other.

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