Lidia, portrayed by Imogen Poots, develops a lifelong passion for writing and swimming as a refuge from a turbulent home life. Her father, Mike, subjects her and her sister Claudia to physical abuse, while their alcoholic mother Dorothy largely ignores the pain, shaping a childhood where water and words become the only safe spaces. Mike tries to keep Lidia from going to college as a means of control, but she fights back and leaves for Texas to study, swim, and explore her sexuality. Yet the memories of those years cling to her, and her later choices—excessive partying, drinking, and drug use—threaten both her academic path and her progress in the pool.
On campus, Lidia meets Philip, and their quick romance deepens into a marriage that is deeply tethered to unresolved trauma. She, still haunted by her father’s dominance, initially views Philip’s sensitive and gentle nature as weakness, and the relationship becomes a stage for both verbal and physical aggression. When a pregnancy follows, she leaves him to live with Claudia and Dorothy, hoping to raise the child together. The baby is stillborn, a devastating blow that reshapes her life: she reconciles with Philip, they scatter the baby’s ashes at sea, and they ultimately divorce. The memories of their marriage and the loss of their daughter haunt her for years, casting long shadows over every future relationship.
Struggling to find a new path, Lidia loses her scholarship and drifts without direction until a friend persuades her to enroll at the University of Oregon. There, she studies under the enigmatic writer Ken Kesey (portrayed by Jim Belushi), joining a collaborative novel project with other students that helps her process grief and channel her voice. Kesey, who has endured his own sorrow—especially the loss of a son—sees something of his own endurance in Lidia, and a powerful bond forms between mentor and student. Her time in that program becomes a turning point, a place where creativity begins to heal the rifts left by years of trauma. To support her healing, she also works with a BDSM therapist, a choice that signals her willingness to confront pain in unconventional ways and to reclaim control over her body and her narrative.
As her literary star begins to rise, Lidia enters a marriage with Devin, a relationship marked by intense passion but also volatility. She searches for the sense of completeness she believed she found with Philip, yet the partnership quickly strains under the weight of unmet needs and lingering ghosts from her past. After a pivotal live reading of her work, she receives an offer from a publishing house, a moment that should illuminate her professional ascent; instead, it arrives alongside the continuing push of alcohol and self-destructive patterns that threaten to derail everything she has rebuilt. A drunk driving incident lands her in trouble with the law, leading to a community service sentence that becomes another crucible in her ongoing process of self-examination and growth.
Teaching becomes a new horizon in her life when she begins guiding young writers at Eastern Oregon University. There, she meets Andy—another admirer who has followed her career—and the two eventually marry, hoping to construct a life that balances art, healing, and family. Andy urges her to consider expanding her family, and she ultimately gives birth to their son, Miles. The film closes on a quiet, intimate note: a young family swimming together at a lake, with Lidia reflecting on the water’s power to heal, to cleanse the past, and to offer a future where creativity and motherhood can coexist with resilience and hope.
The story unfolds as a patient, sometimes painful meditation on how trauma can shape a person’s ambitions and relationships, and how perseverance—through writing, sport, therapy, and family—can guide someone toward renewal. Throughout, Lidia’s life is framed by water: its currents echo the pull of memory and the effort to move forward, while its capacious surface suggests a space where pain can be weighed, spoken, and ultimately transformed into something capable of healing both the self and the ones she loves.
