Once a revolutionary, now washed-up, Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) lives at arm’s length from the world, caught in a haze of stoned paranoia and unease. By his side is his spirited, fiercely self-reliant daughter, Willa Ferguson (Chase Infiniti). One day, Steven J. “Lockjaw” (Sean Penn)—an old nemesis who resurfaces after 16 years—reappears, and Willa’s whereabouts suddenly become unknown. Bob plunges into the tangled heart of his past in search of her. As he does, the consequences of what he once did begin to stalk the present with relentless force.

Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, the film stands out even within Paul Thomas Anderson’s filmography for its unusually visceral, exhilarating momentum. Spanning years, this epic comic adventure barrels through the highways and desolate landscapes of the American Southwest, roaming across a strange portrait of “America now.”