Doting mother Dee Dee Blanchard and her sweet daughter Gypsy arrive in a new town, where Gypsy feels lonely due to a barrage of medical issues but is eager to make friends. However, their new neighbours are nosy, and the pair have secrets to hide.

Dee Dee is on a high since Gypsy will be given the `Child of the Year' award, which makes Dee Dee feel like Mother of the Year, but before the event Gypsy has a dental emergency that gets the attention of a sceptical doctor who could expose secrets.

Dee Dee makes Gypsy dress up for a costume convention, where they each attract charming men who could dangerously complicate their insular relationship. Gypsy begins to question the lies her mother tells her, especially about how old she is.

Gypsy is getting older and Dee Dee is forced into new legal manoeuvres to keep control of her `little girl', but is limited by her health problems. Gypsy goes to greater lengths than ever to connect with men and experience a sexual awakening.

Gypsy and Nick scheme to meet in person and hope to win Dee Dee's approval, but when their plan goes disastrously wrong, they are pushed to make an extreme choice in order to be together.

While Gypsy and Nick are on the run, flashbacks to a much younger Dee Dee reveal how trauma with her own mother set her up for conflict with Gypsy.