Ben Marshall is a seventeen-year-old boy navigating a troubled home life, where his father Robert is a well-meaning but quietly distracted vicar with a passion for birds, and his mother Laura dominates the household with a stern, religious fervor that scolds emotional needs and governs every move. Laura’s faith and control shape Ben’s days: he is deprived of a mobile phone, kept away from peers his age, and even his driving lessons seem to serve a larger purpose—fueling Laura’s hidden life and the distance between them. Amid the friction at home, Ben channels his feelings into writing poems for a girl named Sarah from the church, hoping for some tenderness, but Sarah’s response is coolly dismissive, leaving Ben more isolated than ever.
As the summer stretches ahead, Ben agrees to take on a job to shoulder the cost of caring for Mr. Fincham, a man Laura has taken into her life. He answers an ad from Dame Evie Walton, a once-renowned actress whose star dimmed and who now spends her days in faded glamour, alone in a world that values the next dramatic interest over real companionship. Evie quickly forms a bond with Ben, inviting him into her home as a companion and driver, a dynamic that promises relief from Laura’s controlling grip but also foreshadows new complications. Laura’s resistance to Ben’s summer plans turns into a standoff, and when she refuses a camping trip with Evie, the two women choose a country drive instead. In a moment of desperation, Laura swallows the car key, locking them into a precarious road trip.
Their journey ends up in an unexpectedly formative moment for Ben. The car stops at a scenic spot chosen by Evie, where a spark of independence flickers into Ben’s life as he experiences his first sexual encounter with Bryony, one of the event organizers at the Edinburgh International Book Festival who invites him into a larger world beyond his family’s walls. This trip becomes a turning point, teaching Ben about responsibility and the strength it takes to stand up for himself, even when the path ahead is uncertain.
When they return home, Laura presses for answers, convinced that Evie has corrupted him. Evie himself visits, only to be met with Laura’s hostility, and Ben finds himself torn between two forces: the life he’s started to imagine for himself and the family loyalty that has defined his world. In a moment of rebellious clarity, Ben walks off stage during the church pageant and bikes to Evie’s house, where a quiet reconciliation begins to form between the two of them.
The drama continues as Evie appears at the pageant, embodying a version of God that electrifies the crowd and gives Ben a sense of purpose he has never felt before. He joins Evie in the car park, and Laura’s pursuit grows more frantic as she tries to weaponize scripture once more. But Ben’s resolve finally pushes back: he tells Laura to go away, even as her life spirals toward chaos. A tragic accident follows when Laura is struck by Mr. Fincham, whose mental state has deteriorated under the weight of everything around him. While Ben visits her in hospital, Laura has a near-death vision that convinces her she is a prophet and that divine permission must guide a divorce from Robert and a flight with Peter, who has been fired by the Bishop and is taken to Cornwall for convalescence.
In the aftermath, Ben confronts Sarah, who dismisses the possibility that her affair was anything other than God’s will. He refuses to bow to her certainty and tells her to back off with a frank, blistering honesty: “fuck off.” Evie, ever practical and compassionate, nudges him toward a future of his own choosing. He moves into a tent in the family’s yard, a symbol of his new independence, even as Robert tries to reach out. The truth finally comes out: Robert had asked Laura for a divorce and had loved her, trying to stay faithful despite the strain, a revelation that allows father and son to reconnect at last.
With a renewed sense of self, Ben tells Evie he plans to start a new chapter at university in Edinburgh to study English. Evie is pleased, even if it means their daily bond will change, and she accepts that their friendship will endure in new forms. Ben reads her one last poem, a grateful farewell that promises he will visit whenever he returns home. The film closes on a note of quiet optimism as Ben, now visibly free to shape his own life, walks through a park on his way to pack for Edinburgh, ready to step into a future that belongs to him.
