As summer turns to fall, music teacher Keith Reynolds (Guy Pearce) privately reminisces about his days as a starving artist in the city. While his wife, Megan (Amy Ryan), and daughter, Lauren (Mackenzie Davis), look forward to Lauren's final year of high school, Keith clings to those evenings he's called on to sub as a cellist with a prestigious Manhattan symphony. When Megan decides the family should host foreign exchange student, Sophie (Felicity Jones), the British high school senior soon reinvigorates the impulsiveness of Keith's personality which ultimately pushes their seemingly perfect family into unfamiliar territory.