17 year-old Travis lives in a single-wide trailer in remote Appalachia. He exists day-to-day alongside his kid sister Trinity and barely-there mother Deb. Having become a surrogate parent for his sister, he collects roadside cans to supplement their income. One evening, Deb informs her son that a potential new boyfriend is coming over for some private time. Reluctant to to leave them alone, Travis' suspicions are realized when the interloper brings Deb's old habits back to the surface. Inspired by the social realist cinema of The Dardenne Brothers and Andrea Arnold, When Skies Are Gray paints a stark and unyielding picture of today's impoverished Appalachia.