Earn loses his jacket, which has imporant items to him, after a night of partying. The Uber driver, who is a drug and weapons dealer, has it but ends up getting shot by police while wearing it. Later, Paper Boi gives Earn a generous 5% pay which he gives to Van. Earn's coworker comes by and returns the important item he desperately needed-a key which unlocks the storage facility space he is living in.
During his daily life in Atlanta, Georgia, Earnest 'Earn' Marks' tries to redeem himself in the eyes of his ex-girlfriend, who is the mother of his daughter, as well as his parents and his cousin Alfred, who raps under the stage name 'Paper Boi'.
Having dropped out of Princeton University, Earn has no money and no home and consequently alternates between staying with his parents and his girlfriend. Once he realizes that his cousin is on the verge of stardom, he desperately seeks to reconnect to improve his life and the life of his daughter, Lottie.