Twelve-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) lives in a rundown squat with her emotionally volatile father, Bug (Barry Keoghan). When Bug announces his plans to marry his new girlfriend, Bailey is left to navigate life alone, unable to seek refuge with her mother, who is trapped in an abusive relationship. In search of peace, Bailey retreats to nature, forging a deep connection with the world around her. During one such escape, a mysterious encounter provides her with the strength to confront her mother's cruel partner.

In Bird, Andrea Arnold, one of the foremost directors of contemporary British cinema, crafts a compelling and hopeful tale of identity, sexism, loneliness, and class struggle—an ode to the nation's cinematic legacy. The story is brought to life by Bailey’s strong-willed character, with a hint of magical realism woven into this poignant exploration of adolescence set along the southeast coast of England.

Andrea Arnold studied directing at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles. After winning the Academy Award for Best Short Film with Wasp (2005), her first feature film, Red Road (2006), premiered at Cannes. A few years later, Fish Tank (2009), starring Michael Fassbender and Katie Jarvis, foreshadowed the 21st century career arc of a mature director with a raw realism style. Arnold's bold reimagining of Emily Brontë's classic Wuthering Heights in 2011 boldly stripped the novel of its elemental sensibility, only to turn to the American Midwest with his intoxicating road movie American Honey (2016), which won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes. His first documentary, Cow (2021), follows the life of a cow.

With Bird (2024), starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, Arnold returns to fiction, continuing to strike a balance between gritty realism and lyrical beauty, cementing her place among the most distinctive female voices in contemporary cinema.