Wendy (Dakota Fanning) - a young woman with autism and a fixation on Star Trek - lives a routine life in a San Francisco group home where she is monitored by the house manager, Scottie (Toni Collette). She spends her time writing a 450-page Star Trek script to enter in Paramount Pictures' writing competition in hopes of winning the $100,000 prize. Wendy is visited by her sister Audrey (Alice Eve), who shows her pictures of her infant daughter, Ruby, and reveals that she is selling their childhood home. Wendy asks Audrey to take her home, arguing that she will be able to buy back the house and help care for Ruby once she wins the screenwriting contest. Audrey refuses, informing Wendy she is not capable of caring for a baby. Unfortunately, Wendy has a meltdown and she leaves the group home weeping. After Wendy misses the mail-in date to send her script to Paramount Pictures, she decides to deliver the script personally. She leaves the group home early the next morning and is followed by the group home's small dog, Pete. Wendy and Pete board a bus to Los Angeles, but are kicked off and left by the side of the road after Pete urinates on the bus. Wendy then wanders into a shanty town, where she is robbed of most of her money. She then wanders to a nearby shop and is nearly swindled out of the last of her money by an employee. However, an elderly woman named Rose (Marla Gibbs) intervenes to stop him from exploiting Wendy. She sympathizes with her as her grandson also has autism, and lets Wendy accompany her on the senior citizens' bus. However, the driver falls asleep at the wheel, crashing the bus without warning. Following the bus crash, Wendy wakes up in a hospital in Bakersfield. Still determined to deliver her script as planned, she leaves Pete at the hospital and escapes. During her escape, Wendy loses part of her script by chance. She gathers used paper and begins rewriting the script. At the same time, Audrey and Scottie have realized Wendy has gone missing. They begin to search for her and request a missing persons report. After correctly deducing that Wendy left for Los Angeles to personally deliver her script, Scottie and her son Sam (River Alexander) leave on the road. The Bakersfield hospital notifies Scottie and Audrey of Wendy's whereabouts; police continue the search from there. Scottie and Sam find the missing script pages while scouring the hospital. Wendy then attempts to buy a bus ticket to Los Angeles, but is unable to do so as she has no money. She ultimately stows away on the next bus there, hiding inside the baggage compartment. Upon her arrival to Los Angeles, Wendy wanders around until two police officers recognize her from the missing persons report. Fortunately, Officer Frank (Patton Oswalt) eventually gains Wendy's trust by speaking to her in Klingon. The police officers bring Wendy to the police station, where she is reunited with Audrey and Scottie. They drive Wendy to Paramount Pictures so she can deliver her script there as planned. Despite being stonewalled by a bad-mannered mailroom worker, Wendy is able to sneak past security and submit the script to the turn-in box. Satisfied that she has completed her mission, Wendy informs her sister she did this to prove that she was more capable than Audrey believed. Wendy returns to the group home where she later receives a letter from Paramount Pictures informing her that her script was not chosen, but encouraging her to continue writing. Despite the rejection, she is satisfied with everything she has accomplished. Wendy visits Audrey at their childhood home and holds her niece in her arms for the first time, while her sister dearly embraces her.
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