The Starling Girl(2023)

Plot Summary

• Jemima "Jem" Starling is a 17-year-old girl raised in a fundamentalist Christian community in Kentucky. She desires to be a good Christian and is expected by her parents Paul and Heidi to be a role model for her four younger siblings. Jem's age necessitates that she begin the tradition of courting, and her mother encourages her to get acquainted with Ben Taylor, the pastor's youngest son who has a crush on Jem. But Jem finds Ben dull and immature. Her true passion is dance as a member of her church's dance troupe.After a performance at a church service, Jem is mortified when the pastor's wife points out that her bra is visible through her dress. Jem goes outside the church to cry in private, where she is seen by Owen, the pastor's 28-year-old son and Ben's older brother, who is smoking a cigarette in the corner. Owen has just returned to the community from doing missionary work with his wife in Puerto Rico. Before Jem leaves, he asks her not to tell anyone about his smoking.When Jem learns the troupe might disband due to not having a leader, she asks Owen, who is in charge of church programs, if she can be appointed the leader, which he allows after some hemming and hawing. She develops a crush on Owen, who has come back to Kentucky with a newly relaxed view on church doctrine, and seeks ways to get closer to the older man. Unlike others who tell Jem she is participating in dance for vanity-related reasons and not to praise God, Owen is encouraging of her hobby.When Jem's demonstration of a routine is met with dislike from troupe members, she stays behind at the church one night, sitting alone dejectedly and praying. Owen happens to be working late that night and catches her mid-prayer, inviting her to come hang out in the kitchen with him. He tells her he found an unclaimed pair of seashell earrings in the church's lost and found bin and offers them to her. When Jem said she isn't allowed to wear earrings and doesn't have her ears pierced, she is spurred to pierce her ears herself as Owen watches. She successfully pierces her ear and the two share a kiss, beginning a sexual relationship. He and Jem regularly meet up in secret and he gives her a burner phone to communicate privately. One night, Jem asks Owen if he thinks she is wicked. He replies he does not, and reasons that because he feels truly alive with her, what they are doing can't possibly be a sin. He reveals his marriage to his wife Misty is an unhappy one because they married young and "misread the signs".Meanwhile, Jem's family situation becomes strained when Paul, a former alcoholic, relapses and loses his job. While alone with Paul one night, Jem learns he was a singer in a band before he converted to Christianity. He still listens to his old music on an iPod, which he keeps hidden from Heidi and swears Jem to secrecy about. Paul has begun drinking again to cope with the suicide of a former bandmate. When Jem asks Paul if he misses his musician life, he insists that the sacrifice is part of God's plan. Later, the troupe is asked to show their routine to Misty, who finds fault with the performance and says it needs to be adjusted so it's not so centered on Jem. This angers Jem, but she reluctantly complies. After practice, she keys Misty's car in retaliation.The following day, Owen has Jem come to his home and confronts her about the vandalism, warning her that any reckless behavior would give them away. Jem apologizes and the two make up, but Misty arrives home unexpectedly and Owen has Jem hide in the bathroom. While Jem stays in the bathtub, Owen instructs her he will notify her when the coast is clear for her to exit. However, hours pass by as Jem waits for his signal. She decides to leave on her own, but is nearly caught by Misty before climbing outside a window. When she escapes, she is witnessed by Rebecca, her younger sister. Jem later confesses to her that she and Owen are meant to be together, and when the time is right they will go public with their relationship.After this incident, Owen wants to take a break from the affair. Jem pleads with him not to and says she thinks it's time for them to come forward with their relationship, but Owen angrily refuses. Paul catches Jem lying to him about her whereabouts and punishes her by making her quit the troupe. During their argument, Jem accuses him of lying as well, prompting him to slap her. Later, he takes an overdose of Heidi's pills and attempts to apologize to Jem, but he has a seizure that leaves him in a coma.Heidi goes to stay by her husband's side at the hospital, leaving Jem to take her siblings to a church cookout. At the cookout, Jem frantically pleads with Owen to talk to her, but he avoids her. When the dance troupe performs their routine without Jem, she angrily storms off to the woods. A concerned Ben chases after her even though she tells him to leave her alone. She submerges herself in a pond and Ben follows, resulting in a struggle between the two teens and Jem nearly drowning Ben. Ben manages to get away, calling her a "psycho".Jem arrives back home that night to her mother, who is furious at her behavior towards Ben. Heidi also reveals she found Owen's burner phone, prompting Jem to confess. She insists she and Owen are "connected", to her mother's horror. Heidi calls her daughter "ruined" and declares Satan has taken hold of her. Though Jem apologizes and sobs, Heidi leaves her outside the house. Jem sleeps in the garage and is awoken by Pastor Taylor, who is now aware of everything. He sits down with Heidi and Jem and begins interrogating Jem about when the relationship started, seemingly placing the blame on the girl. When Jem asks about Owen and what he has to say, the pastor dismisses concerns about Owen, claiming Owen doesn't want to be there and how his life is now ruined due to losing his job and his wife wanting to leave him. According to the pastor, Owen says it was Jem who tempted him and "inhibited his ability to control himself". Heidi and the pastor resolve that Jem must spend some time away at King's Valley, a disciplinary camp. At church, Jem is asked to recant her sins in front of everyone. Multiple church members, including Owen, approach Jem to say, "I forgive you." Jem visits her dad in the hospital and takes his jacket with her, packing it in her bags for her stay at the camp.As Jem is preparing to leave home, she is stopped by Owen, who declares he has left Misty and wants to be with Jem. He says that his dad got in his head but he's now made up his mind and wants to go back to Puerto Rico with Jem. Heidi comes outside and punches Owen, but Jem defies her and leaves with Owen in his car. The two take up residence at a motel. While putting on her dad's jacket, she discovers her father's iPod in her pocket. She puts the ear phones in and listens to one of his songs. The following morning, without telling Owen, she sneaks away and takes his car. She drives to a Memphis bar her father told her he used to perform at with his band. While there, a song plays and she happily dances alone to it, losing herself in the dance.

Storyline

• 17-year-old Jem Starling struggles with her place within her Christian fundamentalist community. But everything changes when her magnetic youth pastor Owen returns to their church.