The Weiss family is the archetypical Hollywood dynasty: father Stafford (John Cusack) is an analyst and coach, who has made a fortune with his self-help manuals; mother Christina (Olivia Williams) mostly looks after the career of their son Benjie (Evan Bird), 13, a child star.

One of Sanford's clients, Havana (Julianne Moore), is an actress who dreams of shooting a remake of the movie that made her mother, Clarice (Sarah Gadon), a star in the '60s. Clarice is dead now and visions of her come to haunt Havana at night. Adding to the toxic mix, Benjie has just come off a rehab program he joined when he was 9 and his sister, Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), has recently been released from a sanatorium where she was treated for criminal pyromania...