In 1981,
Bruce Springsteen reaches the end of
The River Tour, his latest sold-out concert tour.
Jon Landau, his manager and producer, rents a house for Bruce to lie low from his growing fame, near
Freehold, New Jersey where he grew up. Bruce's friend and mechanic Matt drives him to the house in
Colts Neck, and Bruce buys his first new car, a
Chevrolet Camaro. Playing with local bands at
the Stone Pony, he meets Faye Romano, an old classmate's younger sister. On the heels of his first top-ten song "
Hungry Heart", his record label expects another hit album, and Bruce suggests trimming studio costs by preparing a
demo himself. Bruce has a troubled relationship with his father Douglas, an alcoholic battling mental health issues, which drove a young Bruce to defend his mother Adele with a baseball bat. Reading the works of
Flannery O'Connor, Bruce catches the film
Badlands on TV and is drawn to research the crime spree of
Charles Starkweather. Inspired, he writes a song in the killer's own voice, and takes Faye on a date to
Asbury Park. At the house, Bruce enlists his guitar technician Mike Batlan to turn the bedroom into a makeshift studio, with a
four-track recorder to arrange the demo themselves. Growing close to Faye and her young daughter Haley, Bruce writes a collection of stark, somber songs with a
blue-collar perspective, influenced by his childhood memories, especially of his father. Jon informs Bruce of other opportunities piling up, including a possible
movie role, but Bruce is committed to his new music. Recording his new tracks unaccompanied, he makes the risky choice to embrace an imperfect, unvarnished sound quality. Mike brings Jon the only copy of the completed demo, a single cassette tape, and Jon confides in his wife about the unexpectedly darker, deeply personal songs. Living in California, Adele calls Bruce for help with an increasingly erratic Douglas. After visiting his father, Bruce arrives in New York City to record the new album, reuniting with the
E Street Band. They lay down several successful tracks, including "
Born in the U.S.A.", but Bruce is unhappy with the overall full-band studio sound of the record. After two weeks of recording, Bruce has not recaptured his acoustic vision for the album. Abandoning Faye, he insists on shelving the potential hits until he is satisfied. Jon agrees to use Bruce's raw demo, unchanged, as the new record, suspecting Bruce fears losing himself in the face of success. Using older equipment to re-create the demo tape as a vinyl
master recording, Bruce's original sound is successfully preserved for the new album,
Nebraska. Record executive Al Teller is dismayed by the stylistic departure, and the absence of the prospective hits, but Jon defends Bruce's artistic vision and decision to let the album speak for itself — no singles, tours, or press appearances, not even his face on the cover. Bruce tells Faye that he is moving to Los Angeles alone, and she tearfully accuses him of refusing to face his fears. He suffers a mental breakdown as Matt drives him across the country, but they reach his new home in L.A. Contemplating suicide, Bruce reaches out to Jon, who urges him to seek professional help, and an emotional Bruce visits a therapist. Ten months later, Bruce is back on tour with Jon's support, and is visited by his proud parents. Douglas asks the 32-year-old Bruce to sit on his lap for the first time, reconnecting with his son. An epilogue reveals that
Nebraska reached number three on the charts, while the hits that were initially shelved are included on Bruce's following album,
Born in the U.S.A., which launched him to global superstardom, as he continued to seek treatment for
depression. ==Cast==