Blue Car

Blue Car is a 2002 drama film directed and written by Karen Moncrieff. It was her first film that she had directed and written.

Plot

A gifted teenager named Megan living in the Dayton, Ohio area has been abandoned by her father and neglected by her mother, who works twelve-hour days and goes to school at night, leaving Megan to babysit her younger sister, Lily. The girls' father does not pay child support often, causing financial strain in the household.

Lily, has serious mental problems; she cuts herself, refuses to eat, and speaks about becoming an angel. After being checked into the psychiatric ward of a hospital, Lily kills herself by jumping out of an open window as she tries to "fly". Meg finds solace in her English teacher, Mr. Auster, who claims he is passionate about writing a novel. He becomes a comfort to Meg during her troubled times and encourages her to enter a poetry contest, which is later followed by one-on-one poetry tutoring.

After winning the local round of the competition, Megan wants to compete at the finals in Florida during spring break. With her mother unable and unwilling to fund the trip, Megan resorts to several incidences of theft and is barely able to make it to Florida.