A young woman, Wendy Carroll, is traveling to Alaska with her dog Lucy, where she hopes to find work at a cannery.

After many failed efforts to find Lucy her, with the help of a security guard, Wendy discovers that she has been taken to a dog pound and rehomed.

In its opening weekend, Wendy and Lucy grossed $18,218 in 2 theaters in the United States, ranking #54 at the box office.

On the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 85% approval rating among 185 critics, with an average score of 7.4/10.

The site's consensus reads "Michelle Williams gives a heartbreaking performance in Wendy and Lucy, a timely portrait of loneliness and struggle".