Letty, a successful New York sculptor, returns after a long absence to her Texas home for a museum show of her work. She sees the visit as an opportunity to reconnect with her family, especially her sister, Kay.

However, the different choices Letty and Kay made early in life have created a large gap between them. Rather than pursuing her dreams like Letty, Kay gave up a promising career as a singer/songwriter to remain close to her parents. Her cowboy husband, Jed, now works for Kay's father, Rick, and he and Kay live a life dominated by her parents. Letty's return reawakens a desire in both Kay and Jed to recapture the freedom they once had. Kay attempts to revive her music career, while Jed struggles to extricate himself from Rick's firm grasp.

Unable to reach out to anyone in a real way, Rick has always been a master at manipulation. In order to maintain his powerful position in the center of the family, he plays Letty, Kay, and their mother, Jo Beth, against each other. The clear loser in this competition is Jo Beth who, threatened by Letty's return, begins to campaign relentlessly for Rick's attention. When he fails to respond, Jo Beth lashes out at her daughters - a pattern that we now realize lies at the root of everything.

The whole family is so caught up in their own disappointments and so ready to blame each other for whatever went wrong, that they all push each other away, isolating themselves more and more. Slowly, it becomes obvious that everyone is an outsider in this complex family.