Josh and S.A.M.

Josh and Sam leave their mother's home in the San Fernando Valley to move in with Thom in Orlando. Their mother is engaged to a man Josh dislikes, which fuels Josh's resentment and sense of being excluded from the new family. The move sets up a tense, uneasy dynamic between the brothers and Thom's household.

Josh schemes to get revenge on Sam for siding with his stepbrothers and begins to brainwash him. He convinces Sam that he is a genetically designed child warrior with the acronym S.A.M. The lie deepens their bond in a dangerous, dishonest way and seeds future trouble.

At dinner, Thom explains they must fly back to California to collect the family belongings. He reveals that their mother and her fiancé plan to move to Europe for a year, so the boys will live with Thom. The announcement heightens tensions as Josh begins to feel even more unwanted.

During the flight toward California, a thunderstorm forces the plane to divert to Dallas, where the brothers must spend a night in a hotel. Josh's frustration with family life grows, nudging him toward abandoning Sam. The disruption becomes the spark for the ensuing chaos.

In Dallas, Josh crashes a high-school reunion and lies that his mother is a graduate, hoping to impress strangers. Derek Baxter, a drunken man, claims to have once been involved with the woman whose pin Josh took. The encounter underscores how Josh's fabrications are spiraling out of control.

Derek drives the boys to a random house, where he confronts them after seeing the truth behind Josh's lies. In self-defense, Sam hits Derek with a billiard ball and Josh knocks him with a pool cue, leaving Derek unconscious. Afraid of being implicated, the brothers flee and steal Derek's rental car.

With the stolen car, Josh, Sam, and Allison—the runaway from Hannibal, Missouri—hit the road across the Western United States. Josh's lies lead them to believe Allison is the 'Liberty Maid,' a mistaken identity that keeps them on the run. The trio evades authorities while the deception unravels slowly.

During a night stop in a motel, Sam steals the car and abandons it on the roadside. Josh tracks the stolen vehicle, but it breaks down, forcing him onto a bus. He later spots Sam clinging to the back of a tractor-trailer, and the two eventually separate at the border.

The brothers reach the Canada border after their chaotic journey and share a brief reunion at the crossing. The tension of their lies remains, and they prepare for separate paths—Josh staying in Canada while Sam heads toward Orlando. The cold border marks a hard turn in their flight from the truth.

Sam arrives in Orlando and tells Thom what happened and where Josh has been. Thom reveals that he had already spoken with Dallas police, who clarified that Derek was not killed by Josh but knocked unconscious. The family begins to confront the real consequences of the brothers' fabrications.

Josh makes his way back to Orlando, hoping to slip back into life with Thom. Sam greets him by exposing the truth through a computer file trick that reveals Josh's lies. The deception that drove their journey crumbles in the face of this digital indictment.

With the truth laid bare by Sam's computer-file reveal, the brothers' schemes collapse and their relationship faces a stark reckoning. The film closes on the note that deception has redefined their bond and left them to confront the consequences at home.