Ben Is Back

Spoiler alert! Please do not read the following plot summary if you have not seen the film.Driving home with her kids on Christmas Eve, Holly Burns is startled to see her son Ben standing in the driveway. Ben has been in rehab for the past few months and is not supposed to be released yet. Ben tells them his sponsor said a trip home would be good for him. Though wary, Holly is happy to see him and says he can stay for 24 hours on the condition he does not leave her sight.

Holly takes Ben out to do some holiday shopping and get him clothes for church. While at the mall Holly runs into Ben’s former doctor, now an old man riddled with dementia. When his caregiver walks away Holly yells at him for getting her son hooked on painkillers after a skateboarding accident when he was younger. Ben also makes eye contact with someone who clearly recognizes him, leaving Ben looking worried. He tells Holly he needs to get to a meeting immediately.

At the meeting Ben shares the story of how he almost overdosed but his mom and dog saved him. After the meeting he is approached by a young girl. He doesn’t recognize her, but she tells him he was her dealer and asks if he wants to get high with her one last time.

Back shopping once again Holly finds drugs on Ben and he claims the girl at the meeting gave them to him. Holly takes the drugs and they go home and get ready for church. At church they see a distraught woman. Holly approaches her and gives her condolences for the loss of her daughter Maggie. It is implied that Maggie was the friend or girlfriend of Ben’s and a fellow person with an addiction.

The family drives home from church that night to find that someone has broken into their home and kidnapped the family dog, Ponce. Realizing it has something to do with him, Ben runs off to retrieve the dog. Holly follows him in the car and they end up driving around trying to find the dog together. They first visit one of Ben’s former high school teachers whom Holly is shocked to learn used to provide her son with drugs in exchange for sexual favors. Next they go to Maggie’s father apartment. Seeing him sleeping and no dog in sight they retreat to their car but he wakes and angrily smashes the car window screaming for Ben to leave.

While eating at a diner Ben tells Holly he got Maggie hooked on drugs and is responsible for her death. He says that he lied to her telling her that the drugs were the best thing ever. Holly explains at the time he believed this to be the truth, so it was not a lie. Ben’s childhood friend Spencer (the guy from the mall) shows up and after a physical confrontation, confirms Ben’s fear: Clayton, a drug dealer he used to work for, is the one who took the dog. Ben tries to get his mom to go home, telling her this will be dangerous and she should let him handle it. He also says he’s a liar and not worth all the trouble but Holly refuses to leave him.

Ben is able to trick Holly at a gas station convenience store, leaving her stranded there while he goes to meet Clayton. Ben tries to buy his dog back but Clayton says Ben must do one more job for him - handling a drug run. Meanwhile Holly goes to Maggie’s mom for help. Maggie’s mom gives her a med kit for reviving a person who has suffered an overdose and the keys to her car to go find Ben. Holly tracks down Spencer, and gives him the drugs she confiscated from Ben earlier, in exchange for him telling her where Ben might be.

Ben completes the mission and gets his dog back, but Clayton also gives him some drugs as a thank you. Ben drives out to an abandoned barn and parks on the side of the road. He leaves Ponce in the car with a note asking whoever finds it to call Holly.

After wandering around all night, searching unsuccessfully for Ben, Holly finally goes to a police station. While screaming for someone to find and arrest her son, she gets a call from a guy who has found Ponce, and drives out to retrieve him. She follows a nearby path that leads to an old barn where she finds Ben unconscious, having taken the drugs from Clayton. Holly uses the kit from Maggie’s mom and performs CPR on him. It looks grim for a while but eventually Ben wakes up and Holly is relieved.