The film stars Jodie Foster (who also produced) as Nell Kellty, a young woman who has to face other people for the first time after being raised by her mother in an isolated cabin.

Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson, Richard Libertini, and Nick Searcy are featured in supporting roles.

When Violet Kellty, who had an undiagnosed stroke, dies in her secluded cabin in the North Carolina mountains, Dr. Jerry Lovell, the town doctor, discovers a frightened young woman hiding in the house rafters.

Paula and Al obtain a court order to institutionalize Nell for further study, but Jerry hires lawyer Don Fontana to prevent this.

Nell, who sleeps during the day and only ventures outside after sunset, comes to trust Jerry, viewing him as the "gah'inja" her mother promised would arrive.

Nell leads Jerry and Paula to the decayed remains of her identical twin sister, May, who died in a fall while playing in the woods.

There, Nell befriends Mary, Todd's depressed wife, goes shopping with Jerry and Paula, but also encounters some unruly boys in a pool hall.

Five years later, Jerry and Paula bring their daughter, Ruthie, to visit Nell in her house on her birthday, and friends surround her.

About the nude skinny-dipping scenes, Michael Apted said that Jodie Foster accepted them without problems, only complaining about the coldness of the water.

The Washington Post's review noted that "Jodie Foster, transcendent in the bravura title role, is far grander than the film itself, and her performance helps camouflage the weaknesses of its structure and the naivete of its themes.

"[6] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin noted that: "For all its technical brilliance, not even Ms. Foster's intense, accomplished performance in the title role holds much surprise.

The site's consensus states: "Despite a committed performance by Jodie Foster, Nell opts for ponderous melodrama instead of engaging with the ethical dilemmas of socializing its titular wild child.