Bev (Drew Barrymore) grows up in a strict Italian-Catholic family in Wallingford, Connecticut, with her father (James Woods), a policeman, and her mother (Lorraine Bracco), a traditional housewife in the 1960s. Her dreams of going to college and becoming a writer are shattered when she discovers she is pregnant. She is only 15. Her deeply disappointed father tells Bev: “You were special. You ruined your life. You broke my heart.” Obedient to her parents’ wishes, she agrees to marry Ray Hasek (Steve Zahn), the father, and to drop out of school.

In one of the saddest weddings ever put on the screen, Bev sits alone after being ostracized by all the guests (friends of her parents) who view her as a bad girl. Only her best friend Fay (Brittany Murphy) stands by her in this moment of humiliation and, in a speech before the guests, honors the light that is within Bev.

Although Ray’s heart is in the right place (he sincerely loves his wife), he isn’t able to provide her with much of a home — it’s a shack on a dead end street. He starts out as a playful father to the baby boy, Jason, and that’s appropriate since he’s a kid himself. But six years into the marriage, his words to Bev, “don’t get mixed up with me, I’m no good,” come back to haunt her. She’s forced to end the marriage when he admits he’s a heroin user unwilling to give up his addiction. Ray’s departure has a deep impact on Jason, who’s very close to his father.

Riding in Cars with Boys is directed by Penny Marshall (The Preacher’s Wife) based on a screen adaptation by Morgan Upton Ward of Beverly Donofrio’s 1990 book. The drama beautifully conveys the struggles Bev undergoes to hold on to her dream of being a writer. The film also does a remarkable job honestly revealing the conflicting emotions in a single mother-son relationship including tenderness and anger, vulnerability and control, joy and sadness.

At 20, Jason (Adam Garcia) still has difficulty pulling away from Bev even though he’s in love with Fay’s daughter and has dreams of his own to fulfill. With her memoir in hand, they take a journey to locate Ray who must sign a waiver so the book can be published. Both mother and son realize that they’ve both been deprived of a chance to play — she was given the responsibilities of motherhood at 15 and, after his father left, Jason took on the adult role in their relationship. The heart-affecting closing scenes of Riding in Cars with Boys portrays the healing power of familial love once one is able to drop past disappointments, resentments, and pain.