White Oleander (film) - Plot

Plot

The narrator, Astrid Magnussen (Alison Lohman), is the 15-year-old daughter of a free-spirited artist, Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer). Since her father left before she was old enough to remember him, Astrid depends heavily upon the maternal care of her passionate but largely self-centered mother. Ingrid's current relationship, with a vulgar man named Barry (Billy Connolly), comes to an end when he is discovered to be cheating on her with younger women, and her emotional response leads her to murder him using poison (white oleander). Ingrid is arrested and sentenced to life in prison, leaving Astrid without parents and in need of foster care.

Astrid is sent to live with foster mother Starr Thomas (Robin Wright Penn), a former stripper and born-again Christian who is a recovering alcoholic. Though they initially interact well, Starr begins to suspect that Astrid is having an affair with her live-in boyfriend, which turns out to be true. Eventually, after a loud argument with her boyfriend, Starr enters Astrid's room in a blind and jealous rage and shoots her. After spending some time in a violent group foster home, Astrid is then given into the care of former actress Claire Richards (Renée Zellweger), a sweet and affectionate woman who initially provides stability for Astrid. Upon accompanying Astrid to see her mother in prison, however, Claire's weaknesses are seized upon by the jealous Ingrid, and she ultimately commits suicide by overdosing on pills and alcohol, suspecting that her husband Mark (Noah Wyle) is having an affair and is going to divorce her. Astrid then chooses to live with a Russian immigrant, Rena (Svetlana Efremova), who treats her foster children as cheap laborers.

As Ingrid's appeal for release approaches, she tries to bribe Astrid to testify that she did not murder Barry. In a newfound position of power, Astrid demands answers from her mother as to their past, leading to the revelation that Ingrid abandoned Astrid with a babysitter called Annie for over a year when she was younger, a move that clearly gave rise to feelings of abandonment in Astrid's childhood. Eventually, having reluctantly agreed to testify, Astrid learns from her mother's lawyer that the appeal has been denied, because Ingrid refused to let Astrid's testimony be heard, a final act of love from a difficult but ultimately loving mother. Newly emancipated, Astrid forges a new adult life in New York with Paul Trout (Patrick Fugit), a young man she met in the group home.