section_path: Plot
section_name: Plot
paragraph_text: Plot
  
  Janiyah Wiltkinson is a single mother living in a run-down apartment with her frequently ill daughter, Aria. One morning, Aria expresses frustration over being unable to bathe herself and tells Janiyah that her teacher said she couldn’t afford lunch. Janiyah is upset but focuses on getting to work.
  
  As she leaves, she gives change to a neighbor in a wheelchair, angering her landlord, who threatens eviction unless rent is paid by 10:00 a.m. After dropping Aria at school, Janiyah goes to her grocery store job, where a family throws a glass bottle at her after she refuses to accept a WIC card for some ineligible items.
  
  Her unsympathetic boss makes her clean up. While in the back, Janiyah gets a call from the school that Aria had injuries, and Janiyah tries to explain those injuries happened during a seizure in the bathtub. Her boss demands she return in 30 minutes and refuses to release her paycheck. Janiyah rushes to the bank to get lunch money for Aria, but the line is long. At school, she is confronted by the principal and Child Protective Services, who take Aria into custody despite her pleas.
  
  Driving back to work in the rain, she accidentally cuts off an off-duty police officer. He throws a drink at her and runs her off the road. Police arrive and impound her car over expired documents. She returns to work and is fired. Her boss again refuses to give her paycheck. At home, she finds she’s been evicted and her belongings tossed out.
  
  Janiyah goes back to the store to confront her boss. While there, two armed robbers burst in. One demands Aria’s backpack, and when Janiyah refuses, she’s assaulted. In the struggle, she grabs a gun and shoots and kills one of the robbers and the other one flees. Her boss accuses her of staging the robbery and calls 911, but she explains the robber knew her name from her name tag. Panicking, she fatally shoots her boss and flees with her paycheck.
  
  At the bank, the teller refuses to cash her check without ID. Desperate, Janiyah pulls a gun. The teller complies, but a silent alarm is triggered. The bank manager, Nicole, recognizes Janiyah and tries to calm her. Detectives Raymond and Grimes, already looking into the grocery store incident, are notified of the robbery.
  
  Raymond, a former Army negotiator, speaks to Janiyah over the phone. They start building a rapport. Meanwhile, a bank teller secretly livestreams the standoff, drawing public sympathy. Supporters gather outside. After Janiyah hangs up, police jam the stream.
  
  Nicole and Janiyah disable the bank’s cameras. A teller, Tessa, writes a message on a bathroom window revealing that the “bomb” in Aria’s backpack is just a science project. Raymond identifies and confronts the officer who harassed Janiyah and has him detained. She also demands the FBI let her confirm his identity. When they refuse, he sends Nicole in with a photo. Janiyah identifies him and releases the hostages, but Nicole stays.
  
  Janiyah receives a phone call from her mother, who reminds her that Aria died the previous night during the seizure. A flashback reveals Aria’s presence throughout the day was a hallucination. The school call and CPS visit never happened. Nicole, aware of Aria’s death, stayed to protect Janiyah.
  
  As the FBI prepares to storm the bank, tear gas is launched and Janiyah is seemingly shot, but this too is a hallucination. In reality, she peacefully surrenders to Detective Raymond, with Nicole by her side.
  
  Janiyah Wiltkinson is a single mother living in a run-down apartment with her frequently ill daughter, Aria. One morning, Aria expresses frustration over being unable to bathe herself and tells Janiyah that her teacher said she couldn’t afford lunch. Janiyah is upset but focuses on getting to work.
  
  As she leaves, she gives change to a neighbor in a wheelchair, angering her landlord, who threatens eviction unless rent is paid by 10:00 a.m. After dropping Aria at school, Janiyah goes to her grocery store job, where a family throws a glass bottle at her after she refuses to accept a WIC card for some ineligible items.
  
  Her unsympathetic boss makes her clean up. While in the back, Janiyah gets a call from the school that Aria had injuries, and Janiyah tries to explain those injuries happened during a seizure in the bathtub. Her boss demands she return in 30 minutes and refuses to release her paycheck. Janiyah rushes to the bank to get lunch money for Aria, but the line is long. At school, she is confronted by the principal and Child Protective Services, who take Aria into custody despite her pleas.
  
  Driving back to work in the rain, she accidentally cuts off an off-duty police officer. He throws a drink at her and runs her off the road. Police arrive and impound her car over expired documents. She returns to work and is fired. Her boss again refuses to give her paycheck. At home, she finds she’s been evicted and her belongings tossed out.
  
  Janiyah goes back to the store to confront her boss. While there, two armed robbers burst in. One demands Aria’s backpack, and when Janiyah refuses, she’s assaulted. In the struggle, she grabs a gun and shoots and kills one of the robbers and the other one flees. Her boss accuses her of staging the robbery and calls 911, but she explains the robber knew her name from her name tag. Panicking, she fatally shoots her boss and flees with her paycheck.
  
  At the bank, the teller refuses to cash her check without ID. Desperate, Janiyah pulls a gun. The teller complies, but a silent alarm is triggered. The bank manager, Nicole, recognizes Janiyah and tries to calm her. Detectives Raymond and Grimes, already looking into the grocery store incident, are notified of the robbery.
  
  Raymond, a former Army negotiator, speaks to Janiyah over the phone. They start building a rapport. Meanwhile, a bank teller secretly livestreams the standoff, drawing public sympathy. Supporters gather outside. After Janiyah hangs up, police jam the stream.
  
  Nicole and Janiyah disable the bank’s cameras. A teller, Tessa, writes a message on a bathroom window revealing that the “bomb” in Aria’s backpack is just a science project. Raymond identifies and confronts the officer who harassed Janiyah and has him detained. She also demands the FBI let her confirm his identity. When they refuse, he sends Nicole in with a photo. Janiyah identifies him and releases the hostages, but Nicole stays.
  
  Janiyah receives a phone call from her mother, who reminds her that Aria died the previous night during the seizure. A flashback reveals Aria’s presence throughout the day was a hallucination. The school call and CPS visit never happened. Nicole, aware of Aria’s death, stayed to protect Janiyah.
  
  As the FBI prepares to storm the bank, tear gas is launched and Janiyah is seemingly shot, but this too is a hallucination. In reality, she peacefully surrenders to Detective Raymond, with Nicole by her side.