[2] It follows police, judges, and local nonprofits attempting to help people who struggle with opioid addiction and bring them to recovery as the city grips with a growing number of heroin and prescription painkiller overdoses, and eventually, the much more potent fentanyl.

Among them are three women alluded to in the film's name: Huntington Fire Chief Jan Rader who, with other emergency responders, treats overdose victims; Cabell County Judge Patricia Keller, who heads the drug court; and Necia Freeman of Brown Bag Ministry, who delivers food to women who resort to prostitution to support their addictions.

It follows first responders to calls as people overdose, including one instance where a woman is revived at the counter of a convenience store while customers continue checking out nearby.

She told Vanity Fair that she felt that while government, health care and pharmaceutical companies weren't paying attention to the plight in West Virginia, that the solutions to the opioid epidemic would ultimately come from there, because of how people like the subjects in her film have worked to help one another.

Forbes said it makes "a powerful case for compassion and for second, third, fourth and 10th chances," though not exploring their causes as deeply as other works such as J. D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy.

[2] The New York Times considered it a front-runner for an Oscar because it "addresses an issue in the news — the opioid epidemic — with present-tense reportage and an eye toward putting human faces on the crisis.

[10] Rader attended the 2018 State of the Union Address as a guest of Senator Joe Manchin and during the trip spoke to lawmakers about the opioid epidemic, which has had a substantial impact on Huntington's economy.