Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace is a 2018 American drama film directed by Debra Granik. The film is written by Granik and Anne Rosellini, based on Peter Rock's 2009 novel My Abandonment, which is based on a true story. The plot follows a military veteran father (Ben Foster) with post-traumatic stress disorder who lives in the forest with his young daughter (Thomasin McKenzie). Leave No Trace premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and was theatrically released by Bleecker Street in the United States on June 29, 2018. The film received universal critical acclaim, with praise for the performances of Foster and McKenzie, and it is the most reviewed film to hold an approval rating of on Rotten Tomatoes. Plot Will, a veteran suffering from PTSD, lives with his teenage daughter, Tom, in the old growth Forest Park near Portland, Oregon. They live in isolation, using forest survival skills and entering the town only occasionally for food and supplies. Will makes their money by selling his VA-issued benzodiazepines to another homeless veteran. After Tom is spotted in the woods by a jogger, they are arrested by park rangers and detained by social services. They are assessed and Tom is found to be educationally advanced for her age despite not attending school. They are found a house to live in on a Christmas tree farm in rural Oregon in exchange for Will's work on the farm. Will grudgingly begins work packaging trees, but is bothered by the helicopters used to move them. Tom meets a local boy who is building his own tiny house, and he introduces her to the local 4-H youth club. Social services continue to check on them and require constant form filling.