Plot

A single mother and the manager of a roadside motel do their utmost to maintain the innocence of a six-year-old girl's life.

Halley lives with her six year old daughter Moonee in a budget motel along one of the commercial strips catering to the Walt Disney World tourist clientele outside Orlando, Florida. Halley, who survives largely on welfare, has little respect for people, especially those who cross her, it an attitude that she has passed down to Moonee, who curses and gives the finger like her mother. Although the motel's policy is not to allow long term rentals, Bobby, the motel manager, has made arrangements for people like Halley to live there while not undermining the policy as he realizes that many such tenants have no place to go otherwise. Halley, Moonee and Moonee's friends, who live in the motel or others like it along the strip and who she often drags into her disruptive pranks, are often the bane of Bobby's existence, but while dealing with whatever problem arises, Bobby has a soft spot especially for the children and thus, by association, their parents, as he knows that Moonee and others like her are just children acting like a children under whatever guidance they have, Moonee who has less guidance than most. Although there are some lines which he will not tolerate to be crossed, Bobby lets most of the disruptive things that they do go, largely as long as it does not affect the bread and butter of the motel, namely the tourist trade. The summer in this collective is presented, when Moonee and her friends, such as Scooty, are out of school and are left largely to their own devices while self-absorbed Halley does whatever she wants, often just staying in the room watching TV. Halley is supposed to look after Scooty, the son of Halley's friend Ashley, they who live in the unit immediately underneath Halley and Moonee's, while Ashley is at work at a local diner. In turn, Ashley pilfers cooked meals from the diner to feed Halley, Moonee and Scooty. Over the course of the summer, Halley systematically begins to alienate one by one the people who are her unofficial support by responding with that disrespect to anything she feels is against her. As such, Halley begins to take more and more extreme measures to maintain the life she leads with Moonee.—Huggo

The Magic Castle, a garishly painted motel in the shadow of Walt Disney World's famous Magic Kingdom, is what Halley, a struggling single mother, and Moonee, her mischievous 6-year-old daughter, call home. But in sparky Moonee's eyes, this unappealing world, crammed with imperceptible lost souls, is a blissful utopia. However, the illusion of a carefree life always comes at a high price. And as hard-pressed Halley takes increasingly dangerous risks to eke out an existence, the consequences of her decisions become a matter of survival. At the end of the day, Halley is at a crossroads: whether she likes it or not, the young mother must either trust those around her or face danger alone. After all, we all face the consequences of our actions. And as harsh reality enters the picture, Halley will face the music. But do shadows exist in fantasy's vibrant, sun-kissed realm?—Nick Riganas

Six-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Kimberly Prince) lives with her young mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) in the Magic Castle, a motel in Kissimmee, Florida near Walt Disney World. She spends most of her summer days unsupervised with her motel-resident friends Scooty (Christopher Rivera) and Dicky (Aiden Malik), engaging in mischief, mooching from tourists, stealing, and other misbehavior. Halley is supposed to watch Scooty while his mother, Ashley, works as a waitress at a diner.

Magic Castle staff includes receptionist Amber (Patti Wiley), laundry lady Bertha (Rosa Medina Perez), Patrice (Terry Allen Jones), owner Narek (Karren Karagulian). Narek spent about $20,000 to paint the exterior of the magic castle in a purple color. The kids are typical 6-year-olds without a care in the world as they explore life without any adult supervision. They learn cuss words and use them profusely, without knowing what they mean.

After the three children are caught spitting on a guest grandmother Stacey's (Josie Olivo) car, Dicky's father (Edward "Punky" Pagan) restricts him from playing with Moonee and Scooty. While cleaning up the guest's car they had spat on, Moonee meets Jancey (Valeria Cotto), a child living at the Futureland motel next door, and invites her to hang out with them. Later on, Dicky's family relocates to New Orleans, which saddens the group.

Bobby (Willem Dafoe), the manager of Magic Castle, is protective of the children. Bobby looks out for the children and protects them from lurking pedophiles and criminals. They regularly inconvenience Bobby, once shutting off the motel's power. Bobby's duties include preparing expense reports, ejecting drug dealers, and doing repairs; he sometimes enlists the help of his son, Jack, with whom he has a tenuous relationship. Many of the rooms at the Magic Castle have bed bugs.

Jack makes efforts to bring his estranged parents together, but Bobby is quick to tell Jack that he does not any sort of relationship with Jack's mother. This angers Jack, and he tells Bobby that he does not need the extra work and asks Bobby not to call him to Magic Castle again.

Bobby is careful to not let Halley establish residency by staying in any one room for more than a defined amount of time. Bobby makes Halley continually change rooms and says that she can leave if she does not like that. The room at the Magic Castle costs $1000 per month.

Halley has recently lost her job as a stripper after refusing to have sex with clients, but this now affects her eligibility for TANF benefits (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). TANF is a program that provides cash assistance and other support services to eligible families. These services include: Cash assistance, Job preparation, Work opportunities, and Child care support. Halley needs to be able to show that she worked 30 hours in a week to be able to qualify for the benefits.

A newlywed couple (Andrew Romano and Carolina Grabova) arrives at the Magic Castle by mistake as the guy's assistant booked them at the motel, instead of at the fancy hotel called Magic Kingdom. The wife is Brazilian and wanted to have a Disney Honeymoon. She is horrified to find that they are staying at a motel that hosts residents on state welfare. The guy cannot do anything as all the resorts are booked.

Halley, struggling to pay rent, hawks perfume to tourists in hotel parking lots and asks Scooty's mother, Ashley (Mela Murder), to steal food for them from the diner where she works. Ashley continues to support Moonee and Scooty and provides them with food from the restaurant. Ashley even promises to hire Halley as a waitress, if she is made manager.

Meanwhile, Moonee and Scooty show Jancey around the neighborhood and teach her things, like how to get ice cream by begging. They claim that they have asthma and need ice-cream to stay healthy. After Dicky's family moves to New Orleans, Scooty finds a lighter in a box that Dicky's family left behind. Scooty, Moonee, and Jancey start a fire at an abandoned condominium complex Ashley cuts contact after discovering Moonee, Scooty, and Jancey set an abandoned condominium on fire.

Ashley turns completely against Halley. She informs Halley that Moonee can no longer hang around with Scooty and also says that she can no longer provide any free food from the fast-food place she works at. In retaliation, Halley visits the fast-food restaurant and makes Ashley wait on her and later gets her to pack all the left-over food in a take-away container.

Without the free food from Ashley, and with security guards beginning to bother her at the hotels, Halley's financial situation declines even further. Halley begins offering her services online as a prostitute, closing Moonee in the bathroom when she has a client. Bobby notices the activity and applies restrictions on unregistered guests in her motel room. When she steals a client's Disney resort passes to sell them, the man Charlie Coachman (Carl Bradfield) returns to demand them back; Bobby sees him off but warns Halley that he will evict her if the prostitution continues.

In desperation, Halley approaches Ashley to apologize and ask for money. Ashley criticizes Halley for doing sex work; enraged, Halley viciously beats her in front of Scooty.

The next day, DCF (Florida Department of Children and Families) investigators (Lauren O'Quinn and Cecilia Quinan) show up and question Halley and Moonee separately about their lifestyle. In anticipation of another visit, Halley gives away her weed and has Moonee help clean their room. They go to a fancier hotel and have an extravagant meal, which Halley charges to a guest's room.

When they return to Magic Castle, the investigators, having found evidence of Halley's sex work, are waiting with two police officers to take Moonee into foster care while they finish their inquiry. Not fully understanding what is happening, Moonee asks to say goodbye to Scooty, who let's slip that she is going to a new family. Upset, Moonee runs away from the investigators to bid Jancey goodbye. Seeing her friend's distress, Jancey grabs Moonee's hand and the two run away to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park.