In the town of Ebbing, Missouri, Mildred Hayes is grieving the rape and murder of her teenage daughter, Angela, seven months earlier. Angry over the lack of progress in the investigation, Mildred rents three abandoned billboards near her home, and posts on them: "Raped While Dying", "Still No Arrests?", and "How Come, Chief Willoughby?" The billboards upset the townspeople, including Chief Bill Willoughby and the racist, violent, alcoholic Officer Jason Dixon. The open secret that Willoughby suffers from terminal pancreatic cancer adds to everyone's disapproval. Mildred and her son Robbie are harassed and threatened, but to Robbie's chagrin, she stays firm about keeping the billboards up. While Willoughby is sympathetic to Mildred's frustration, he finds the billboards an unfair attack on his character. Angered by Mildred's lack of respect for his authority, Dixon threatens businessman Red Welby, who rented Mildred the billboards, and he arrests her friend and coworker, Denise, on trivial marijuana possession charges. Mildred is also visited by her abusive ex-husband Charlie, who blames her for their daughter's death..