Based on a memoir by former Marine and Yale Law student J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of Vance’s family, a sprawling clan who live in southern Ohio and also have deep roots in Kentucky. The movie focuses on both Vance’s childhood and his formative years as an adult, with the emphasis on the impact of two women on his life: his troubled, drug-addicted mother Bev (Amy Adams) and his stern, no-nonsense, foul-mouthed grandmother Mamaw (Glenn Close).