Wildcat plot recap, spoiler-light
The film introduces Flannery O'Connor, an idiosyncratic young Southern writer and devout Catholic, who imagines various dramatic episodes inspired by her own short stories and a fictional boarder named Star Drake. After winning a writing competition, she travels to New York to secure publishing approval for her novel, Wise Blood, though she refuses to provide an outline. During her trip, she connects with Robert Lowell, her former teacher with whom she shares mutual romantic feelings, and meets Elizabeth Hardwick at a gathering.
Returning home, she experiences fatigue and facial rashes, eventually receiving a devastating lupus diagnosis—the same illness that caused her father's death. Initially resistant, she eventually seeks medical treatment and begins using crutches following a fall down the stairs. Her mother, Regina, offers support despite sometimes finding her daughter's writings abrasive.
Seeking comfort, Flannery purchases a peacock. An Irish priest counsels her through her spiritual struggles, suggesting she channel her charitable acts and struggles into her writing, following which she dedicates herself fully to her craft.
