Leaving Stockholm is a mockumentary that explores the fictional story of a teenage girl, Helen, who was abducted as a child and kept captive for eight years. The film concentrates on her life two years after her release, and her rehabilitation back into her old life. In a reunion that should have led to a happy ending, reality takes another turn when the aftermath of Helen's abduction leaves many conflicts and unresolved issues in play between Helen and her mother. Her mother, Rosalind, recognizes the fragility in Helen that no one else sees, and as a means of protecting her daughter, is against making the documentary. The film builds to a climax when Helen's kidnapper hangs himself in prison, and leaves Helen the house in which he kept her captive.