The film is about the culture clash that takes place between Diana, a Manhattan writer, her wayward teenage daughter Grace, and their long-distant relatives in the bayous of Louisiana.

Diana Sullivan is a successful Manhattan writer and photojournalist, seemingly oblivious to the serious cocaine addiction that her wild child daughter, Grace, has developed.

Married at 12 to an abusive man whose current whereabouts are an increasingly troubling cipher, the domineering Ruth rules over her three adult sons.

The sons—Pauly, Tommy, and Mark—are less than perfectly cogent, with equal parts protectiveness and ferocity, while a fourth, disowned son adds to the volatility of the situation.

As the fascinated Diana and wary Ruth circle one another, Grace, bored and in the grips of her addiction, toys with her naive cousins with devastating consequences.

The film was given a one-week screening in Los Angeles on December 4, 1987 in order to qualify for that year's Oscars awards,[1] but failed to garner any nominations.

[3] A wider distribution plan was botched in part due to miscommunication between branches of The Cannon Group, who were undergoing financial troubles.

"[6] Ebert lamented the film's distribution and wrote that if it had been better handled by Cannon, Shy People could have been a contender for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

He said that the film "contains more than its fair share of howlers", that its themes of culture clashes and value differences "are too obvious to be especially interesting to Americans", and that "Mr. Konchalovsky's direction is as self-conscious as the screenplay".