Road Trip

The narrative shifts to Savannah, Georgia, in 2025. During the funeral Mass for Mary Helen Dunagin, her daughter, Maeve Dunagin, kneels in the pew, trying to maintain her composure. The service is disrupted by the late arrival of Maeve’s older sister, Therese, who is dressed in a motorcycle jacket and combat boots. Therese loudly demands a seat and then sits defiantly while the rest of the family kneels for communion, forcing them to awkwardly climb over her. Maeve is infuriated by her sister’s behavior but says nothing.

A flashback to seven years earlier shows Mary Helen detailing her elaborate funeral plans to a horrified Maeve and Therese over lunch. She has pre-paid for her coffin and plot and has planned out the reception. Back in the present, at the post-funeral reception in the church hall, Maeve stands in the receiving line, feeling numb. Therese confronts her, asking why the reception is not at their mother’s house as Mary Helen had specified in her plans. Maeve curtly explains that the house is a mess with leftover hospice equipment, a jab at Therese’s absence during their mother’s final illness. Their aunt Fran intervenes, inviting them to her house for a drink after the reception ends.

When Therese arrives at Aunt Fran’s house in their mother’s 1988 Chrysler LeBaron, Maeve confronts her for taking the car and smoking in it. The argument escalates when Therese announces she is staying at Mary Helen’s house, which is also legally hers. Maeve protests that the house is a mess and there’s no bed for her, but Therese is undeterred. Their uncle, Keith Dunagin, a pharmacist who has long supported the family, asks to speak privately with both sisters at Fran’s, but Therese avoids the conversation. Keith tells Maeve he will come to their mother’s house the next morning to discuss an important matter.

Later that evening, after getting drunk at her aunt’s house, Therese decides to stay the night on the sofa. She reflects on a newspaper article she found two days earlier, detailing the sale of a painting that fetched $1.2 million at auction. The portrait in question is identical to her late mother’s most prized possession, an oil portrait of Lady Geraldine Fitzhugh, which she claimed depicted their aristocratic ancestor and was painted by the famous artist Valerian DeJongh. Growing up, Maeve and Therese believed their mother invented this story. The next morning, Aunt Fran wakes Therese and tells her that Keith is coming to see her and Maeve. Therese asks Fran about the portrait’s history. Fran confirms that their grandmother Kathleen brought it from Ireland but expresses skepticism about their supposed aristocratic lineage. She recounts a trip to Ireland where she learned the family were poor farmers whose home had burned down, and she speculates that a wealthy employer may have given Kathleen the painting, or that she stole it.

The next day, Maeve begins the difficult task of cleaning out her mother’s house. A real estate agent, Angie Gary, had visited the week before Mary Helen passed away and advised that the house may need to be sold as a teardown. While sorting through her mother’s belongings, Maeve is struck by grief. Therese arrives, and Maeve finds her in the living room holding the portrait of Lady Geraldine. Therese then accuses Maeve of starting to dispose of their mother’s belongings without giving her a chance to claim any of them. The sisters argue just as their uncle Keith arrives. Therese is irritated to learn Keith is the executor of the will, a role she believed would be hers. Maeve pointedly suggests their mother may have changed her mind because Therese was never around.

Keith sits the sisters down and tells them Mary Helen had taken out a new mortgage on her paid-off house for $325,000. He explains she had fallen under the sway of a televangelist named Brother Jerome and sent him all the money. When she went to the bank to arrange the mortgage, she told the bank officer it was a matter of “spiritual life or death” (39). With the house now underwater and their inheritance gone, the sisters are distraught. Keith then reveals Mary Helen left them over $9,000 in cash in a coffee can, with the stipulation that they use it for a trip to Ireland together to repair their fractured relationship. Keith offers to match the funds, bringing the total to roughly $18,000. Both sisters refuse because they want the money for their immediate financial problems, but Keith honors Mary Helen’s wishes and leaves with the can, telling them to call if they change their mind. After he leaves, Therese researches the portrait online, confirming the artist is Valerian DeJongh and the subject is Lady Geraldine Fitzhugh. Determined to have it appraised, she steals cash from Maeve’s purse to gas up her mother’s car before leaving the house.

After Therese leaves in the LeBaron, Maeve discovers she has been fired from her professorship at Georgia Southern via a brusque email from her department head, Janelle Howze. Her friend and colleague, Kaitlyn, calls to confirm the news, revealing that another professor, Pratt Newman, is already moving into Maeve’s office. Maeve recognizes her firing as sex discrimination because her job was given to a less-qualified male colleague. Devastated by the loss of her job on top of her family’s financial crisis, Maeve tells Kaitlyn about the mortgage and the proposed Ireland trip. Kaitlyn encourages her, suggesting this is a sign she should finish the novel she has been secretly writing, which Kaitlyn has read and admired.

While emptying her mother’s kitchen junk drawer, Maeve finds a church bulletin with an ad for the Childress Law Firm and calls the number. At Scott Childress’s office, she explains the situation with her mother, the house, and the televangelist. Scotty is sympathetic and agrees to investigate Brother Jerome for elder abuse and potential mail fraud. Maeve also tells him about being fired, and he notes that she might have a sex discrimination case. As Maeve describes her exhaustion and her overwhelming circumstances, Scotty gently suggests that she should reconsider her mother’s final wish and take the trip to Ireland.