Mary Griffith is a devout Christian who raises her four children—Ed, Bobby, Joy and Nancy—according to the evangelical teachings of her local Presbyterian church in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Walnut Creek, California.

On the day of his grandmother's birthday party, Bobby is uncomfortable when his family make homophobic jokes and comments.

She takes him to a conversion therapist who treats him coldly and tells Mary and her husband Robert that homosexuality is the result of inadequate parenting.

He spends time away from his family by going to Portland, Oregon in the summer to visit his cousin Jeanette, who is accepting of his sexual orientation and tries to help him realize that his mother will never change.

Thinking back to his mother's unrepentant homophobia and disownment of him, he free falls off of a bridge onto a highway and into the path of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler truck, which kills him instantly.

She recounts the struggles she had coping with Bobby coming out of the closet and her stubbornness to reevaluate her religious beliefs, which were nothing more than "bigotry" and "dehumanizing slander".

She recognizes that Bobby's kind heart was more important than his sexuality and that his suicide was subsequently due to poor parenting.

Executive producers David Permut, Daniel Sladek, and Chris Taaffe initiated and championed the project over a period of thirteen years.

Screenwriter Katie Ford based the teleplay on the noted best-selling book Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son by Leroy F. Aarons, a journalist who interviewed Mary Griffith about her experiences that led to the suicide of her son as well as her work advocating the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community.

Critics' consensus on the website is "A devastating true story and terrific performance by Sigourney Weaver give Prayers for Bobby palpable power, although some viewers may find this well-intentioned film too calculating in its efforts to wring tears.

"[4] Brian Lowry of Variety wrote "Sigourney Weaver's TV movie debut proves worth the wait, as Lifetime's fact-based Prayers for Bobby revisits ground similar to that broken nearly 25 years ago by the AIDS-themed "An Early Frost" and – thanks to enduring religious-based bigotry toward gays – still feels fresh and poignant.