It chronicles the lives and friendships of three young men growing up in Rockford, Illinois, united by their love of skateboarding.

[3][4] Bing Liu lives in Rockford, Illinois, as do two friends he met through skateboarding: Keire Johnson and Zack Mulligan.

As they reach adulthood, Zack becomes a father and gets a job as a roofer to support his family, while Keire finds work as a dishwasher.

Interspersed with Zack and Keire's stories is footage from an interview Bing Liu conducted with his mother, during which he asks her if she knew his stepdad (her second husband) had abused him when she was not around.

[7] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 128 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 8.7/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Minding the Gap draws on more than a decade of documentary footage to assemble a poignant picture of young American lives that resonates far beyond its onscreen subjects.

[9] A. O. Scott of the New York Times called the film an "astonishing debut feature", and "a rich, devastating essay on race, class and manhood in 21st-century America.

"[11] Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote that the images of skateboarding "are merely the background and context for the film," whose "substance—domestic trauma, systemic racism, and economic dislocation—is also the very stuff of society, and the near-at-hand intimacy gives rise to a film of vast scope and political depth.