The film stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Eddie Redmayne, Rory Culkin, Juliette Lewis, Ray McKinnon, Anson Mount, Blake Lively, and Alec Baldwin.

It follows Luli (Moretz), a 13-year-old Nebraskan girl who runs away from her neglectful parents and sets out for Las Vegas.

In the 1980s, Luli McMullen lives in Palmyra, Nebraska, with her neglectful mother and alcoholic father, who constantly fight.

While Lloyd initially appears friendly, his true nature shows through when he viciously berates Eddie for a small mistake.

Heartbroken by this revelation and unnerved by Eddie's odd behavior, Luli goes outside, where she meets a boy named Clement and enjoys a drinking game with him.

The next day, Luli awakens to find herself tied to a bed in a rented cabin, her hair cut short and dyed black.

She phones home and learns from her mother that she sold their land to a property developer and that Luli's father has left the family.

On the bus to Nebraska, she flips through her sketchbook of drawings and finds a note from Beau containing his sister's home address, in case she changes her mind.

[6] Principal photography began in the last week of March 2011 and lasted approximately 30 days, with filming taking place in 11 cities in North Carolina, including Whiteville, Hallsboro, Kelly, Burgaw, Atkinson, Lexington, Madison, Concord, Winnabow, Lake Waccamaw, and Wilmington.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Hick's talented young star is ill served by a film whose story wavers between discomfitingly inappropriate and simply muddled.

"[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 28 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.