Lady Bird

In the fall of 2002, Christine McPherson, who calls herself "Lady Bird", is a senior at a Catholic high school in Sacramento, California. Despite her family's financial struggles, she longs to attend a prestigious college in "a city with culture" on the East Coast. When Lady Bird's mother Marion tells her that she is ungrateful and her dreams are unrealistic, Lady Bird jumps from the moving car, breaking her arm.
Lady Bird and her best friend Julie join their school's theater program where Lady Bird meets her new boyfriend Danny. She spends her last Thanksgiving before graduation with Danny's wealthy family instead of her mother. When Lady Bird catches Danny kissing a boy, she breaks up with him. Marion convinces Lady Bird to earn money working at a coffee shop. She tries to become more popular by bonding with popular students Kyle and Jenna, exaggerating her family's wealth and vandalizing a nun's car with Jenna. She reconciles with Danny after he apologizes and expresses his fear of coming out. Lady Bird leaves the theater program and spends less time with Julie.
Lady Bird's new relationships begin to fall apart. After she is suspended from school for heckling a guest speaker at an anti-abortion assembly, Jenna discovers Lady Bird had lied about Danny's grandmother's house being hers. Lady Bird kisses Kyle at a party, and they confess to being virgins. After they have sex, Kyle admits he lied about his virginity then attempts to gaslight Lady Bird into thinking he didn't. Lady Bird seeks comfort from her mother, and Marion provides it unconditionally.
Marion begs Lady Bird to apply to California colleges, revealing Lady Bird's father, Larry, has lost his job and can't afford out-of-state tuition. Larry secretly encourages her to apply to her dream schools, resolving to refinance their home mortgage if necessary. Lady Bird is dismayed to learn that her presumptive destination is UC Davis, only half an hour away. She is waitlisted for a university in New York City, but does not tell Marion.
On prom night, Kyle, Jenna, and Jenna's boyfriend skip the prom in favor of a house party. Lady Bird visits Julie instead. They rekindle their friendship and go to prom together. Lady Bird's family take her to a restaurant to celebrate. Danny runs into them and accidentally reveals the waitlist to Marion. Lady Bird gets the silent treatment from her mother for the remainder of the summer, and when she is accepted and her parents drop her off at the airport to leave for New York, Marion refuses to say goodbye.
In New York, Lady Bird finds several heartfelt, unfinished letters from Marion in her luggage, secretly collected by Larry from the trash. Lady Bird is touched and readopts her given name, Christine. She's hospitalized after drinking heavily at a college party, and attends a local church after discharge where she is moved to tears. Christine calls home and leaves a message for her mother, apologizing and thanking her for all of her help.