It’s tough when an artist realizes their career isn’t going to take them where they hoped it would, and they have to settle for the normal, everyday life some of them spent most of their existence trying to escape. Such is the case with Nora (Anna Campbell), the subject and title of the film that Campbell also wrote and directed. The duo she was a part of had modest success, and though a song Nora wrote became a hit, she now finds herself back in her hometown, raising a six-year-old daughter while her husband, a band manager, goes off on a six-week tour.

Nora has no idea how to navigate a typical suburban lifestyle. Her daughter, Sadie (Sophia Mara Baaden), asks if she forgot that tomorrow is her first day at a new school. Nora assures her she didn’t. (She did.) Confronted by a group of popular class moms, Nora—the artist outcast—wilts and nervously blathers until they stare at her blankly. She has one friend in town, though, and a passive-aggressive mother (the always delightful Lesley Ann Warren). She also has a box of notebooks and tour photos to remind her of what she’s lost.

It isn’t a particularly unusual trope to return to your suburban hometown and reevaluate your life, but Campbell gives an honest, raw, and truthful performance that’s not devoid of humor. Her chemistry with Baaden is palpable and believable. Any parent can relate when Sadie climbs into Nora’s bed in the morning and announces, “I’m awake,” and when her mother’s response isn’t enthusiastic enough, follows up with, “I’m awake now.” And Kate Miner, as the head of the PTA and the queen bee of the yoga moms, is a riot. There’s an honesty and a spiky edginess that keep the movie from tipping into anything too maudlin or sentimental.

Nora also daydreams in the style of music videos. There are at least four fully performed songs with accompanying visuals. The indie/alt tracks by Airborne Toxic Event’s Noah Harmon are solid, but they slow the narrative and don’t really deepen our understanding of Nora. Campbell and her cast are so engaging, we want more of them—and less of Nora’s MTV fantasy.

That said, Nora is an engaging, salty-sweet film that drills down on how much our dreams cost us—and how they can leave us adrift when they don’t materialize.