High school senior Henry Nearing (Gregory Smith) has to cope with the death of his mother and is also forced to come to terms with evolving from a self-absorbed and confused adolescent to accepting the responsibilities of early adulthood.

His father quits his teaching job, buys a motorcycle, and becomes a perpetual drunk, while his brother takes off to live as a transient doper.

To make things even more complicated, Henry has two young women on his mind: the sexy, wealthy, very popular Grace (Jordana Brewster) and childhood friend Merna (Ashley Johnson)—one girl drives him crazy, and the other girl keeps him sane.

Nearing Grace has a 48% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critics consensus being that "this coming-of-age story doesn't dig deep enough to offer anything fresh to the genre.

"[1] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Ordoña's review was mixed but ultimately positive, concluding that despite a sometimes lackluster lead performance, the strong supporting cast and clever dialogue allowed the film's strengths to "outweigh its flaws.