Plot summary

14-year-old Kris and her younger sister Chance live with their grandmother Marjorie in Cruz Valley, Texas. The girls' dog has gotten out and killed a chicken. Marjorie is annoyed at being waked up by their dog. She doesn't like having to be responsible for the girls, period, and throughout the movie, she shows her resentment. Even worse, when Kris passes the home of her neighbor Abe Turner, he says he warned the girls to keep the dog away from his chickens and threatens to shoot the dog.The girls and their grandmother visit Janis, the girls' mother, in prison. There is no divider between Janis and her family. Janis expects to have a hearing soon and this means she could be coming home.Kris and Chance join a bunch of teenagers, including Daryl and Jessica, at a nearby river. Chance is told to be careful but she still ends up in the river. The kids talk about a party. When the girls return home, Marjorie is annoyed that Chance got wet.One night, Kris goes over to Abe's house. He is not home because he is at a PBR rodeo event in San Antonio acting as a bullfighter, meaning that when the bull rider is thrown off, he is the person who attracts the bull to keep the rider from getting hurt. It is a dangerous job but pays well. Kris finds a key under a plant, discovers plenty to drink as well as drugs, and uses her phone to invite the kids. They drink and make a mess and even let the chickens in the house to play a game with them. Abe comes home to find the house a mess, with chickens still inside, and Kris still outside on a sofa. The police are called.Marjorie asks if there is anything that can be done to make amends. Abe agrees that Kris can be let go, and he tells her to clean up the house, Once that is done, Kris is given more jobs to do.Abe goes over to Mike's place and there is some sort of business transaction.The family visits Janis in prison again and things are looking good. Even if she doesn't get out, there is a chance she can work on a farm. Also, once she gets out, another prisoner has offered to let the family live on and work her land in Oklahoma.Kris has to continue to work for Abe. One day at Mike's place she sees Abe training some boys to ride bulls. They use a device called a mechanical bull which is operated by ropes. Kris wants to try, and she's pretty good.Abe acts as a bullfighter for an event attended primarily by Black people, for which he won't get paid. Mike provides food, and the event is preceded by a prayer.Using her phone in class, Kris watches footage of Abe when he still rode bulls. Her teacher has given up on trying to stop her from doing this. Billy picks up Kris from school and tells her a story about Janis which she has never heard. Apparently Billy and Kris were a couple at one time. Daryl lives with Billy and later, Kris spends time with both of them.In a PBR event, a particularly nasty bull hurts Abe. The next time Kris comes to his house, he asks her to help him with things he is having a hard time doing. But Abe has to get back to work, and he takes drugs so he can. However, he also drinks because his life is hard.Kris continues to want to learn how to ride bulls, and Abe teaches her. One day, she gets on a real bull and is thrown off after three seconds. But she is smiling. Abe tells her what she did wrong and she wants to continue, and maybe ride professionally. Kris continues to train, though the next time she gets a chance to ride, she hesitates. Abe doesn't mind and lets her wait until another time.Kris and Abe attend another event for which Abe is not paid.When Kris and Abe go to a professional event, Abe is told because he got hurt, the only thing he can do is act as a clown, meaning he and someone else tell jokes. One rider doesn't care for what Abe said and has to be restrained. Abe is not happy because he needs the money, and he drinks. Kris has to drive him home and the next morning uses an egg from the chickens to make him a hangover cure like her grandmother sometimes needs.The next time Kris visits her mother, it is with a divider between them and a phone to communicate, and her chances of getting out have gone down, because she was fighting. Marjorie didn't want to come.Kris and Daryl spend time together at Billy's place playing video games. Billy says Kris will never make money as a rider, but he says Kris can come work for him.Kris and Abe go to an event together and Kris walks up to a rider in a barn and asks if he is interested in oxy.Kris takes Chance skating but goes out to the parking lot to give Billy the money she owes him. Billy is very happy with how well Kris is doing. Chance cries when she can't find Kris.Later, Kris is spending time with Abe when something falls out of her bag. The next time she goes to Abe's house, all the chickens are dead and Kris finds what she dropped. Abe wants her to leave and never come back.Kris realizes she doesn't want to sell drugs any more, and she rides her bike into the river. Billy is upset when he finds that she got the drugs wet and demands to know how she will pay him back.At the end of the movie, Kris is in Abe's house and they are talking.