In the wonderfully dysfunctional tradition of The Royal Tenenbaums, teenage years are always a mess, but for Maude, things couldn't seem more tragic. Within one week leading up to her 18th birthday, she is suspended from school, stranded by her best friend, dumped by the boy she 'loves, ' and Granny just died, leaving her an enormous amount of money under one condition: Maude must go to college, which she does not want to do, and her wildly eccentric family is no help at all.