Story Overview

Set against the suffocating heat of an Oklahoma summer, August: Osage County explores the emotional implosion of the Weston family following the mysterious disappearance of its patriarch, Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard). What begins as a tense reunion quickly devolves into a brutal confrontation with long-buried resentments, personal failures, and painful family secrets.

At the center of the household stands Violet Weston (Meryl Streep), a sharp-tongued, pill-addicted matriarch whose volatility poisons every interaction. Her eldest daughter Barbara (Julia Roberts) returns home determined to hold the family together, even as she struggles with her own crumbling marriage and a rebellious teenage daughter. Meanwhile, middle daughter Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) is quietly entangled in a forbidden relationship, while the youngest, Karen (Juliette Lewis), masks emotional fragility behind shallow optimism.

As grief gives way to confession, the Weston home becomes a battleground where love and cruelty coexist in equal measure. Directed by John Wells and adapted from the Pulitzer Prize–winning play by Tracy Letts, the film delivers a relentless portrait of familial dysfunction, elevated by powerhouse performances and razor-sharp dialogue. August: Osage County is an unflinching examination of how family ties can both sustain and destroy those bound by them.