The United States of Leland

“Crime. Confusion. Compassion. They're all just states of mind.”

Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) teaches at a juvenile prison and decides to write about Leland (Ryan Gosling), a withdrawn teenager locked up for killing a mentally disabled boy, and wants to understand how it happened. The boy was the brother of Leland's girlfriend, Becky (Jena Malone), so the death lands hard on her family and the town around them. Matthew Ryan Hoge sets Pearl's visits against Becky's grief, and Leland stays caught between the two.