The protagonist, Michelle Clunie Hartington, returns to her hometown in Louisiana after a years-long stint in New York City as a news producer at CZN, answering a request from her high school debate coach, Kathleen Wilhoite Annie Landry. In flashbacks, she revisits her senior year, the tangled politics of debate competitions, and her complicated partnership with Nick Parker Mack, the team’s breakout star. Back at Annie’s house, she discovers the coach bed-ridden, connected to medical devices, and cared for by visiting nurses. Amy slips into sleep after a nurse’s shift ends, dreaming of a big party with old classmates and teachers, and wakes determined to share, with Annie, the tale of how she first joined the debate squad.
Amy is an adopted child who often bears the brunt of pranks from her older siblings and a lackluster reception from her parents. She spends more time behind the wheel of her 1972 Pontiac Catalina than under her own roof. At school, Nick Stayson is paired with her as her partner, a choice that clashes with his turbulent home life—an abusive father who works on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. On the way to the debate camp, Amy and Nick deliver money to her older sister and pick up a young girl from Stuyvesant High School in Brooklyn, Rosa Conti [Katherine McNamara], who is sent to help them.
Rosa’s presence brings a new voice to the camp, and after Rosa’s speech, Amy begins to feel out of her depth. Rosa talks her into staying, and the two grow closer. Meanwhile, reporter Bill Tarrity [Jim Gleason] is chasing a feature on high school debates, and the camp grants him a permission slip he knows his own father won’t sign. Under the pretense of research, Nick and Amy slip away from the camp for a night on the town in New Orleans. The two open up about their families, including a painful memory from Nick and his mother at a 1984 World’s Fair, and they confront the abusive tirade of his father on their return home.
Rosa’s brother Dylan [Shayne Topp] arrives at the camp, and Susan Levine, a CZN producer working on Tarrity’s project, also gets involved. Dylan juggles his own project—a documentary about Cajun bluegrass inspired by a Gatemouth Brown concert—and he sharpens his own attraction to Amy. After Rosa speaks, Susan secures Amy for interviews about the structure of high school debate. As Tarrity’s piece nears broadcast, a moment of risk unfolds when Nick’s parents show up with the permission slip—his father destroys it with a cigarette lighter, forcing Nick to flee in embarrassment.
Back at home, Amy discovers a sealed envelope containing her adoption information and wrestles with the idea of returning to her cousin’s wedding. She seeks counsel from Annie, who shares a memory of a personal upheaval—after the death of her own son, she took a trip to Valencia, discovered Falles, and found renewed strength to resume teaching. Annie later sends Amy and Nick as representatives of their school to a New York City competition, though budget cuts leave Annie unable to accompany them.
In Brooklyn, Rosa invites the pair to stay at her family’s apartment. Dylan secretly courts Rosa on the building’s roof, but she resists his advances. Annie calls from home to urge Amy to bring Nick back, but Amy decides to press on alone. The two travel to a Brooklyn bar in search of Amy’s birth mother, where she orders a beer and seems to connect with the bartender, only to be startled by the bar’s crowd cheering a game and she and Nick leaving together. They share a spontaneous, ardent kiss, and Amy, buoyed by her growing confidence, gives in to her feelings for Nick.
Returning to Lafayette, the weight of expectations bears down on Amy: the school contemplates action against her and Annie for not bringing Nick home as planned, and Amy contemplates whether to return. She ultimately chooses independence, driving away rather than facing a potentially tense reunion with her parents. The film cuts back to the present, with Amy attending Annie’s funeral alongside former students, then resuming work life in Lafayette. A postcard from India, signed by Nick to Annie, hints at a lingering fondness, and Amy later returns to her old school as a new debate coach, ready to pass on what she learned to a new generation.
