Plot

The acerbic, hilarious Claire Bennett becomes fascinated by the suicide of a woman in her chronic pain support group. As she uncovers the details of Nina's suicide and develops a poignant relationship with Nina's husband, she also grapples with her own, very raw personal tragedy.

The acerbic, hilarious Claire Bennett becomes fascinated by the suicide of a woman in her chronic pain support group. As she uncovers the details of Nina's suicide and develops a poignant relationship with Nina's husband, she also grapples with her own, very raw personal tragedy.—Ben Barnz

Enduring a life of chronic and unimaginable pain, the former Los Angeles defense attorney, Claire Bennett, is now reduced to a pill-popping misanthrope--literally, a physically and mentally scarred being. Having lost her faith in humanity, Claire suddenly finds herself taking an interest in the tragic suicide case of the fellow support-group member, Nina, who summoned up the courage to put an end to her life. Now, feverish and recurrent hallucinations burden Claire's already fragile existence, forcing her to strike an unlikely relationship with the deceased's widowed husband, Roy. Could he be holding the key to pained Claire's salvation?—Nick Riganas

The story centers on Claire Bennett (Jennifer Aniston) a former attorney, as she struggles to come to terms not only with the aftermath of the car accident that killed her son and left her partially disabled by chronic pain, but also with the suicide of Nina Collins (Anna Kendrick), a woman from her chronic pain support group. Claire is full of anger and is kicked off her support group due to her poor behavior. She is also separated from her husband Jason Bennett (Chris Messina). Claire uses the pool boy to "service" her sexual needs.

As time flies by, with her marriage and life falling apart, she ends up buying drugs on the street to support her addiction. Claire starts visualizing Nina several times leading to short conversations. It has been 6 months since Claire is taking water therapy sessions with zero improvement, leading the doctors to believe that the problem is not physical. Since the therapy is not having any effect, Claire's medicine prescriptions are cut off. After her session, Claire jumps into the pool with body weights, seemingly to kill herself. She stays on the bottom for a long time before rising to the surface.

As the drug effects diminish, she returns to the present. Claire visits the spot where Nina jumped off the highway intersection to commit suicide. By blackmailing (by threatening to sue the county for discriminating against her) Annette (Felicity Huffman) from her ex-support group, she procures Nina's address and befriends her husband Roy (Sam Worthington). Silvana (Adriana Barraza), Claire's helper and driver is very loyal and dutiful. Since the accident, Claire dared not to sit up erect in her car, so Silvana drives her anywhere. Bonding over their loss and isolation, Claire and Roy go to Nina's grave. A few nights later Claire surprises him at home but takes Nina's leftover Percocet. Claire's dreams of Nina continue.

Claire has to travel to Mexico to get her painkillers as her doctor in the US won't give her any. Claire and Roy start getting closer, but Claire pushes him away when he learns about her accident from Silvana and offers her sympathy. But then she is glad when Roy persists and even brings his son over to dinner with Claire. Seeing Roy's son makes Claire confront the loss of her own son in the driving accident.

The one day when Claire, Roy and his son are having lunch, a man named Leonard (William H. Macy) comes by to talk to Claire. It turns out that he was the driver of the car that Claire had the accident with. He wants to apologize to Claire, but Claire is incensed. She beats him as hard as she can and asks him to leave her property. She is so upset that she ODs on painkillers. Afterwards, she inadvertently overdoses on the pain medication. Taken to the hospital, she dreams of Nina presenting her with a birthday cake with six lit candles, explaining that she feels guilty about not being able to make a homemade birthday cake for her son.

Claire is discharged from the hospital and struggles to remain drug free. She asks Silvana to drive her to the drive-in where she had her first date with Jason. Wandering away, she lies down on the nearby railroad tracks and hallucinates a conversation with Nina, who gets Claire to admit she was a good mother. Claire hears Silvana calling her and when she gets up, Nina vanishes. Silvana loudly criticizes Claire for abusing everyone and pushing away Jason, who is also suffering the loss of their son. She is interrupted when Claire notices the car has been stolen, forcing them to stay in a motel.

The next day Becky (Britt Robertson), a girl on her way to Los Angeles, tries to steal Claire's purse. Claire brings her home to make her a homemade cake. Silvana later wakes Claire when she sees Becky has in fact stolen the purse but has left a beautiful cake. Claire takes it to Roy for his son's birthday, as a way of thanking Nina. She and Silvana go to visit her son's grave, where Silvana hangs a wind chime in a nearby tree. On the ride home, Claire finally sits upright in the car.