During a 1930s dust storm, Red Stovall drunkenly crashes his car into the windmill outside of his sister Emmy Wagoner’s Oklahoma farmhouse. Emmy, her husband, Virgil, and her father-in-law, Grandpa, carry Red’s unconscious body inside. After Red’s fourteen-year-old nephew, Whit, retrieves Red’s guitar and a letter from the back seat, the family determines that Red is on his way to Nashville, Tennessee, to audition as a singer in the Grand Ole Opry radio broadcast. While Red rests, the family resumes their chores, and Whit cleans Red’s car. Later, Red allows Whit to drive the family home from church, calling the boy by the nickname “Hoss.” Over dinner, Virgil discusses his plans to move to California to pick cotton, but says that, due to the Depression, he cannot find the money. Grandpa offers to accompany Red on his drive east, eager to return to his hometown in Tennessee. The next day, Red, feverish from alcohol withdrawal, snaps at Whit while teaching the boy how to tune his guitar. In order to keep her brother from drinking and driving, Emmy allows Whit to drive Red to one of his local performances. At a saloon, Red performs for the crowd. After the show, Whit and his uncle steal chickens from a nearby coop, but Red knocks over a fence, causing the farmer to chase them with a shotgun. They escape, sell their loot, and split the earnings. The next morning, however, two police officers find alcohol and chicken feathers in Red’s car, and arrest him. That night, Whit breaks Red out of jail and they return home. Red attests to Whit’s talent as a musician and asks permission to bring the boy to Nashville, but Emmy and Virgil refuse. The next morning, Emma concedes to Whit’s plea, and Whit, Red, and Grandpa leave for Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Red intends to collect a $100 debt from a man named Durwood Arnspringer. They stop to survey the site of a horse race that Grandpa once attended in 1893, and Red bathes in a tub on the side of the road. When a steer attacks, Whit distracts the animal with Red’s shirt, and his uncle is saved. As Whit drives, he helps Red compose song lyrics. Red hears a radio announcement mentioning Bob Wills, and Red remembers that the country music performer may have information about Arnspringer. At a nearby radio station, Bob Wills instructs Red to visit the town brothel; the owner, Miss Maud, tells Red the location of Arnspringer’s weekly card game. Red offers to buy a prostitute for Whit, but Miss Maud refuses to serve children. One of the prostitutes, however, takes Whit to a room upstairs, and they have sex. Later that day, Red finds Arnspringer and demands payment. Unable to produce the money, Arnspringer offers Red to give a ride to Marlene Mooney, a young girl who has always dreamed of going to Nashville. When Red refuses, Arnspringer tells him to rob the local diner, claiming that he has an arrangement with the owner, who will fraudulently report the heist to the insurance company. When Red enters the diner with a gun, however, the owner screams, ignorant to the set-up. Red returns to Arnspringer’s house, demanding all of the money he has on hand. Meanwhile, Marlene convinces Whit to let her hide in the trunk, and after Red and Grandpa fall asleep, Whit pulls over so she can relieve herself. She tells the boy that she hopes to become a country singer, and admits that she wants to be romantically involved with Red. The next day, a police officer pulls Whit over, and discovers Marlene in the trunk. Red bribes the officer to avoid arrest for allowing a minor to drive without a license. Sometime later, the group stops at a mechanic to have the car repaired, but Red refuses to delay the trip. Marlene sings a song for Red, hoping that her talent will change his poor opinion of her, but he is disgusted by her amateurish voice. In the next town, the car breaks down, forcing them to wait two days for the necessary parts. Grandpa and Red plan to catch the bus to Tennessee and leave Whit to wait for the car, but Red misses the bus while drinking at the bar. That night, Red gets drunk and has sex with Marlene, and in the morning, she boldly insists that Red got her pregnant. Eager to get away, Red catches the next bus and instructs Whit to get rid of Marlene before meeting him at a club in Memphis, Tennessee. The boy arrives at the venue and watches his uncle play piano onstage, getting high off the patrons’ marijuana fumes. Whit reveals that he left Marlene at the bus station, but believes she is still headed toward Nashville. Later, in the car, Red tells Whit about his love affair with a married woman, who left him while pregnant with his child. He cites the romance as the only time he was ever happy in his life, but he expresses no desire to see his daughter. At the audition, the judges refuse to hear most of Red’s songs due to their vulgar content, so Red sings a song about lost love, called “Honkytonk Man.” When Red excuses himself from the stage with a coughing fit, the judges eliminate him from consideration. However, a New York City talent agent named Henry Axle offers Red a recording deal that will earn him $20 per record. The next day, Red records multiple songs, but takes frequent breaks to rest his ailing voice. Henry approaches Whit about Red’s condition, forcing the boy to admit that a doctor told Red he would die unless he stops singing. Henry believes that Red continues to sing because it is his last chance to “be somebody.” In the studio, Red collapses, and the producers bring in another singer to finish the song. After they dismiss Red for the night, Marlene visits him in the motel room. When Red begins coughing, Marlene calls for the doctor, who announces that Red does not have long to live. In the morning, Red dies embracing Marlene, whispering the name of his former lover. At his funeral, Whit plays Red’s guitar and sings “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Afterward, Marlene asks to travel with Whit to California, and a couple in the cemetery listens to “Honkytonk Man” on their car radio.