The Burning Plainis a 2008 drama film directed and written by Guillermo Arriaga , the screenwriter ofAmores perros(2000),21 Grams(2003), andBabel(2006). The film stars Charlize Theron , Jennifer Lawrence , Kim Basinger and Joaquim de Almeida . In Arriaga's directorial debut, he films a story that has multipart story strands woven together like in his previous screenplays. Filming ofThe Burning Plainbegan in New Mexico in November 2007, and the film was released in late 2008 in various festivals, before general releases in 2009.

Typical of Arriaga's works, this film is told in a non-linear narrative, where events are revealed out of sequence. The following plot summary is in chronological order, and thus does not reflect the exact sequence of the events as seen on screen.

The story starts off some time in the mid-90's in a small New Mexico town near the border of Mexico, where we are introduced to Gina ( Kim Basinger ), a wife and mother to four children. Gina carries out an affair with a local man named Nick Martinez ( Joaquim de Almeida ), who also has a family of his own, but unbeknownst to the two, Gina's teenage daughter Mariana ( Jennifer Lawrence ) finds out about their love affair. Mariana follows her mother to Nick's trailer. Knowing the two are inside and in an effort to make them end their affair, she disassembles the gas pipe leading into the trailer, and sets it on fire. The flames eventually reach a gas tank that causes a fiery explosion, consuming the entire trailer and claiming both Nick and Gina's lives, although she had no intention of killing either of them. After their funeral, Mariana and Nick's own teenage son, Santiago ( JD Pardo ), slowly begin to develop a relationship of their own. Mariana soon becomes aware that she is pregnant with Santiago's daughter. The two flee to Mexico amid disapproval from their families and decide to have the baby there, but after she has delivered their daughter, Mariana abandons her family and assumes the new name of Sylvia.

Over a decade later, Sylvia (now played by Charlize Theron ) works at a high-end Portland restaurant. Despite her success, she resorts to promiscuity and has persistent thoughts of suicide. Here we see a mysterious figure following her around which was later connected to the crop dusting scene as a co-worker and close friend of the older Santiago. After an accident on a plane, the hospitalized Santiago urged Carlos to look for Sylvia who he's been searching for since she left their two-day old baby.

Due to Carlos (José María Yazpik), not speaking English and Sylvia not speaking Spanish, he couldn't explain to her the purpose of his visit. Instead, he surprised Sylvia with her now twelve year old daughter, Maria (Tessa La). Maria who was reluctant to meet her estranged mother was heart broken when her mother abruptly left the scene. Sylvia realizing later she made a mistake enlisted the help of her friend, Laura, to search and finally found Carlos and Maria in a motel where they shut her out. Refusing to give up, they booked a room across the way and Sylvia took her opportunity to reunite with her daughter as Carlos was packing up their car to leave.

Sylvia managed to get through to Maria and agreed to go back to Mexico with them where she was confronted with more of her past and Santiago dosed in medication. There, in private, she confessed to him her past crime of killing their parents, afraid that he wouldn't make it. She returned home with Maria which was revealed in the last scene as the home she had briefly shared with Santiago before kissing her newborn baby goodbye. In Maria's room alone, she saw a picture of a happy toddler Maria and the young Santiago--evidence of a good father. More important, there was a framed picture of her young self on the wall--the very picture that Santiago had asked for when they first started their courtship. Realizing her mistake, Sylvia ask for her daughter's forgiveness the next day. Even though Maria did not respond, she had included her mother at the hospital minutes later as she was approaching her father's room who was successfully recovering from surgery. This last scene, we see Sylvia, actually the older Marianna finally smiling and finally being able to face her past with a sense of hope for a happy future with Santiago and Maria.