The Horsewoman

A prologue presents a viral YouTube video of a young girl standing on a stool before a mirror, surrounded by horse trophies, playing the national anthem with a hand over her heart. The narrator reveals the girl is her as a child.

Becky McCabe, a 21-year-old rider and self-described "black sheep" of a prominent horse family, arrives late one morning to Atwood Farm in Wellington, Florida, the hub of American competitive show jumping. Her grandmother, Caroline Atwood, a tough 72-year-old who owns the barn, has long criticized Becky's lack of discipline. Becky's mother, Maggie Atwood, an elite rider on the verge of qualifying for the Paris Olympics, has left on a solo trail ride on Coronado, a powerful Belgian warmblood and the family's best Olympic hope. When Coronado gallops back with an empty saddle, Becky rides him along the canal trail and finds Maggie lying motionless. A fox spooked the horse, who reared and fell on her. Maggie has a fractured pelvis, a torn knee ligament, and broken ribs, and her doctor says recovery will take months.

Atwood Farm is in financial crisis. Caroline mortgaged everything to buy a share of Coronado, whose majority owner, Steve Gorton, a brash New York hedge-fund billionaire, demands a replacement rider at once. Becky's trainer, Daniel Ortega, a gifted young horseman and DACA recipient (a person protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children), proposes that Becky ride Coronado, arguing her fearless style suits the horse. Both Caroline and Becky resist, but Maggie endorses the plan from her hospital bed, reasoning that an outside rider would bring a new trainer and push the family out. Caroline negotiates a one-month trial with Gorton: Becky must prove herself at the Grand Prix and the Longines event, another major show-jumping competition, or Gorton can choose any rider. Privately, Gorton calls Tyler Cullen, a top-ranked American rider, and instructs him to ensure Becky fails so Gorton can install Cullen on Coronado instead.

Meanwhile, Becky and Daniel grow closer. Daniel confides his fear of deportation, explaining that intensified immigration enforcement has made life precarious for DACA recipients. Walking through the empty show grounds one night, they share their first kiss.

Becky's first competition on Coronado ends in disaster when she misjudges a distance and crashes through a rail. Gorton demands she be removed. Caroline, overwhelmed by the barn's finances, prepares to sell her share of Coronado. Becky counters by offering to sell Sky, her beloved Dutch warmblood, to raise cash. Maggie sides with Becky, and Caroline relents. Becky qualifies for the Grand Prix by a tenth of a second. Her father, Jack McCabe, a prominent New York lawyer and Maggie's ex-husband, arrives to watch. In the Grand Prix, Becky goes clean on the long course and posts 38.4 seconds in the jump-off, the timed tiebreaker round held after tied clean rounds. Cullen finishes close behind but challenges the timing; the steward confirms Cullen raised his arm before clearing the electronic timer, costing himself time. Becky wins, and the $250,000 prize provides critical financial relief.

Maggie secretly begins riding again at the barn of Gus Bennett, a former world-class rider who uses a wheelchair after a riding accident in 2008 en route to the Beijing Olympics. Gus trains select riders with blunt intensity. When Maggie announces she wants Coronado back, Becky is devastated. Maggie argues the Olympics have been her lifelong dream and insists Sky has Olympic potential. To resolve the conflict, Gus proposes a trainer swap: He will train Becky on Sky, and Daniel will return to Maggie on Coronado.

Maggie's return to competition is rocky. In a five-star Grand Prix, she rides poorly, haunted by fear from her fall. She confronts the trauma by riding the trail where she was originally thrown and entering a low-level event, going clean for the first time in months. Gus pushes Becky relentlessly, drilling her on process over results. In a later event, Becky suspects Maggie deliberately let her win by taking a safe outside turn on a key rollback, a tight turn back to the next fence, rather than the faster inside route. Maggie denies it but later admits to Daniel that she did.

Daniel drives to Miami to testify at an immigration hearing for his friend Hector Suarez, a former groom arrested in a sweep by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The judge grants Hector's release, but ICE agents confront Daniel outside, warning they now have his information. Cullen suggests to Gorton that getting Daniel deported would destabilize Maggie's preparation.

Becky wins the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) World Cup finals on Sky, climbing to fourth in the Olympic rankings. At the Kentucky Invitational, Maggie wins but Becky pushes Sky too hard and Sky refuses the last fence. At a cocktail reception, Gorton corners Daniel, makes vulgar remarks about Becky, shoves him, and throws a punch. Daniel dodges and breaks Gorton's nose. Because Daniel's DACA renewal was filed late, ICE places a detainer on him after his arrest, and he is sent to a federal detention center. Jack flies in and takes on his case.

The Olympic team is announced on television: Cullen first, Maggie second, Becky third, making history as a mother-daughter Olympic duo. They travel to Paris and prepare at the equestrian venue near the Chateau de Versailles while Daniel remains in detention.

In the Olympic qualifying round, Coronado spooks twice during Maggie's ride, but she kicks him through both incidents and finishes clean. Becky has a panic attack before her round. Gus finds her and, referencing his career-ending injury, tells her to consider what he would give for this chance. During Becky's ride, arena lights reflect off the water jump and blind her. She puts her head down, trusts Sky, and the horse clears it. They post the fastest qualifying time.

In the individual gold medal jump-off, Cullen is eliminated when his horse refuses the water jump. Maggie posts the leading time. Becky rides last in a sudden downpour; Sky's hind legs slip between fences, but the horse recovers. Becky finishes clean at 38.4 seconds, winning individual gold. Maggie earns silver.

In the team competition's decisive jump-off, both Becky and Cullen knock rails. For the United States to win gold, Maggie must go clean and beat Ireland's time of 38.8. Her foot slips from the stirrup mid-course, sending pain through her injured knee, but she jams it back in and finishes at 38.3, clinching team gold. On the podium, Maggie takes Becky's hand during the national anthem.

At the celebration dinner, Jack arrives with Daniel, whose release he secured by leveraging a waiter's video of Gorton throwing the first punch, navigating Daniel's DACA renewal, and using Gorton's political connections to expedite a parole application. Gorton briefly appears, claims shared credit for the medals, is met with silence, and leaves.

Becky and Daniel slip away and walk hand in hand across the bridges of Paris. When Daniel asks what she wants to do tomorrow, Becky answers: "Ride my horse."