Roofman

The film opens as Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) is breaking into a McDonald’s from the roof. He takes the manager, Duane (Tony Revolori), and two employees, Jade and Joselyn (Kirana Kuic and Gabriella Cila), and forces them into a freezer while holding a rifle, but Jeff is courteous enough to give Duane his hoodie before robbing the place. Jeff flees when he sees a cop car pulling up through the drive-thru.

Jeff takes us back two years to show how he became a criminal. Discharged from the army and divorced, Jeff is shown struggling to provide for his three kids. He is at his daughter Becky’s (Alissa Marie Pearson) birthday party and gets her a hand-me-down toy set that she is clearly not into. Jeff chats with his friend Steve (Lakeith Stanfield) over getting an honest job, but Steve points out that Jeff has exceptional observation skills, and that he can see things others cannot. Jeff later leaves Becky with her mom Talana (Melonie Diaz) at a McDonald’s, who also doubts Jeff’s ability to care for his kids. Jeff then observes the McDonald’s itself and starts to get an idea.

Over the next couple of years, Jeff robs 45 different McDonald’s using the same method, with the media referring to him as “Roofman”. Jeff is now throwing a much nicer birthday party for Becky, until police arrive to arrest him. He tries to run away on foot but is eventually caught and sentenced to 45 years for the earlier McDonald’s robbery (with Duane and his employees in attendance). Jeff is left disgraced, and Talana cuts off his contact with his kids. Jeff ends up working at the prison auto shop but starts to pay attention to the truck’s routine and sees an opening to escape by hiding under the bottom.

Jeff immediately tries to go to his kids after changing clothes in the woods, but he knows there is a manhunt out for him. He calls Steve for help, but he tells Jeff to lay low. Jeff spots a Toys R Us and sneaks into the ceiling until everyone has left the building. He then sets up a little space in the middle of the store behind the bikes display.

Making the Toys R Us his new home, Jeff hides during the day and runs around the store at night, living off the candy and using other store items to make a home for himself. Jeff also finds the store’s security cameras and stops them from recording so he can go around the store undetected, as well as planting baby monitors around the store to track the employees. He tries to wait until the police give up their hunt for him, while also trying to reach Steve for help in getting out safely. When he tries to contact Becky, Jeff is saddened to hear her playing with her mom’s new boyfriend, and Talana also figures that Jeff is on the phone and orders him never to call again, or she will call the cops.

Jeff starts to develop a fondness for store employee Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst), a single mother. When she asks her boss Mitch (Peter Dinklage) for time off to be with her kids, he turns her down, so Jeff gets into the store’s system and takes Leigh off the weekend schedule. Jeff is also moved by Leigh standing up for a coworker, Otis (Emory Cohen), after Mitch accuses him of taking M&M’s due to his weight, and he returns the candy he took.

Jeff steals toys and takes them as donations to Leigh’s church, which is running a charity donation. He goes to the church under the alias “John Zorn” and meets Pastor Ron (Ben Mendelsohn) and his wife Eileen (Uzo Aduba), who then introduce him to Leigh. Jeff takes stolen video games and pawns them off for cash so he can get dental work done thanks to his candy diet. He later joins Leigh at a singles event with other church ladies, where “John” charms them all and pretends to be an undercover agent to avoid too many questions about his past. Leigh later assumes that he is gay, but then asks him on a date when he clarifies that he is not.

Jeff starts a relationship with Leigh, and he also attempts to get close to her two daughters, Dee (Kennedy Moyer) and Lindsay (Lily Collias). While Dee takes to Jeff quickly, Lindsay is more apprehensive. Jeff tries to convince Leigh to start a new life elsewhere, but she declines, saying that her life is where she is.

While bathing himself in the bathroom at Toys R Us, Jeff is startled to find that Mitch is there late at night. He tries to grab his clothes before Mitch can see him, but he unfortunately is spotted and freaks Mitch out. Jeff pretends to flee the store and hides in his space while waiting for Mitch and the police to leave. The news of the mysterious naked man at Toys R Us spreads around town, and starts to make Lindsay concerned. During a church potluck, she lashes out at Leigh and comments on her and Jeff’s sexual relationship in front of everyone. Jeff later gets Leigh to apologize to Lindsay for not listening to her concerns, while Lindsay apologizes for her behavior, and Jeff agrees to show her how to drive.

The next day, Jeff brings Leigh and the girls to a used car salesman (Jimmy O Yang) and tests drive the car. Jeff gets a little too reckless with the driving to show off, but then gets Lindsay to calm her nerves and give it a drive before paying for the car in cash. Leigh thanks Jeff for the car but also admonishes him for the stunt driving and putting her daughters at risk just so he could show off.

Jeff eventually gets in touch with Steve, who is living with his girlfriend Michelle (Juno Temple). In order to flee the country and start over under a new name, he needs $50,000. He tries to break into the pawn shop that he frequents by employing his roof method, except he messes up and ends up in the shop next door. He breaks through the wall into the pawn shop and steals a gun before clumsily fleeing the scene.

Jeff starts to consider his actions as he has become very close with Leigh and the girls. He tells Leigh that she is scheduled to come in later than she is so that she won’t be there when he robs the place. Jeff emerges with his gun and holds everyone at gunpoint, and then has to knock out a security guard reaching for his gun. Jeff forces Mitch to get the money from his safe and ends up getting sprayed in the face by an ink bomb. Jeff calls for help for Mitch, but Leigh arrives and sees him even though he is wearing his ski mask. Jeff tries to go after her, but she runs. Jeff’s hideout is later discovered, along with his cameras and monitors.

Jeff brings the money to Steve, ready to get going out of town. Steve reiterates that Jeff cannot maintain contact with anybody from his past life, meaning he can never see or speak to Leigh and the girls. Jeff later goes to burn down the dentist’s office to remove any records of him being there.

The morning that Jeff is starting to drive away, he gets a call from Leigh, asking if he is going to stop by for Christmas dinner. Not willing to leave her behind so easily, Jeff goes to Leigh’s apartment and is met by a team of officers who arrest him on the spot. Jeff is handed an extended prison sentence, as he has been telling the whole story to a group in prison. However, he has managed to get back in contact with Becky. Leigh later goes to visit Jeff in prison, letting him know that the girls are okay, and Dee even kept the haircut that he gave her. She forgives him for lying to her, and he tells her that she does not need to feel sorry for getting him in trouble. They tearfully hug each other.

The ending text states that Jeffrey Manchester tried to escape two more times but now works in the prison library. Leigh Wainscott has since remarried but visited Jeff one more time since then. Jeff will be eligible for parole in 2036, and he insists that he has no further plans to escape.

Last Updated: October 13, 2025 at 22:29