You all probably know someone who is just sad...all the time. Maybe it's you. No reason that you can pin down, just a dissatisfaction with your life, a detachment from your feelings. In The United States of Leland, a young man takes those feelings way too far and effects everyone in his life.

Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) informs us that he made a mistake. We learn that sensitive Leland, who would be the last guy to commit a murder, has killed the retarded teen brother of his ex-girlfriend Becky (Jena Malone). Leland is the son of a famous author (Kevin Spacey) who was too busy to meet with the boy after leaving his family years ago. Leland tells his mom (Lena Olin) about the killing and he's sent to juvenile hall where he has classes taught by Pearl (Don Cheadle), a wanna-be author partly genuinely interested in Leland but who wants to exploit his story for a big literary break.

Flashbacks reveal how Becky, hooked on drugs, dumped Leland and this is also the point of a subplot in which Becky's older sister Julie (Michelle Williams) has dumped the high school jock Allen (Chris Klein) who loves her and is living with her family. In getting to the depressing "why" of Leland's crime, teacher Pearl decides to not join the dysfunctional crew and abandons his book quest to make up with his estranged girlfriend. Allen decides to do something rash to make Julie and her family accept him.