One night after being forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol, Jimmy ends up in a coma and, eventually, his family make the difficult decision to take him off life support.

Directionless and depressed, Barbara initially spends her days at home in New York chain-smoking and writing angry e-mails to the college principal, causing distance between herself and her three other children.

One day after reading other mothers' stories online about their sons dying following hazing incidents, Barbara decides to begin travelling around the country to interview them, hoping to bring awareness to the matter with the possibility of getting help from her husband Jim's friend Bob Daley, a senator from Washington DC.

Jim calls Barbara while she is driving home and tells her he has received a photograph of Jimmy from the night of his death, showing that he was tied up and urinated on while being made to drink.

"[9] Valerie Kalfrin of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists wrote, "Hogan infuses Barbara with such lived-in certainty that her performance is the strongest reason to watch Rushed.

"[10] Peter Gray of The AU Review wrote: "Rushed is a tender, yet furious drama about the hazing ritual culture of American fraternities.