本片根据真实故事改编。 　　1957年，苏联卫星发射成功，美国民众萌发了危机意识。一个矿井小镇的普通高中生霍默（杰克·吉伦哈尔 Jake Gyllenhaal 饰）此刻却为自己的未来忧虑，他在球队选拔中落选，而体魄强健的哥哥一直更受父亲约翰（克里斯·库珀 Chris Cooper 饰）认可，不甘于平庸的霍默萌生了制作火箭的想法，在老师和朋友们的支持下，霍默全身心投入了研究，老师更带来了他可以通过火箭制作进入大学学习的机会。而另一方面，身为矿井负责人的约翰希望儿子继承矿井，对他的研究加以阻扰，同时警方也为山林失火事件终止了霍默的活动，这个年轻人还能获得自己想要的成功么？

Set in near-future inland Florida, Teenage Euthanasia centers around the owners of Tender Endings funeral home, the Fantasy Family Grandma Baba, her adult children Uncle Pete and Trophy, and Trophy's teenage daughter, Euthanasia (Annie), a name accidentally given to her during the time of Trophy's own unbearable suffering. Back when Trophy was a teen herself; she ran away from home after giving birth to Annie, leaving her newborn to be raised by Baba and Uncle Pete. Now, 15 years later, Trophy returns to Tender Endings...as a corpse, for burial. When a bolt of lightning strikes Baba's homemade embalming fluid and one of Annie's tears, Trophy comes back from the dead. As a resurrected woman, Trophy has a variety of quasi-useful death powers. But more importantly, she has a second chance at unplanned parenthood.

这个不言而喻的体系塑造了美国，并记录了当今的生活是如何由人类划分的等级制度定义的。

一名飞行员在驾驶飞机时意外死亡后，一名乘客被迫安全着陆，以拯救他的整个家庭。