通过罗斯·麦克艾威与儿子阿德里安跨越生死的影像与记忆，回望时间流逝与记录生活之间的距离。影片整合数十年家庭影像与未完成的创作计划，在碎片化素材中拼接父子关系与创作轨迹，最终呈现出一部由缺失与追寻共同驱动的私人影像作品。

North Carolina produces more tobacco than any other state in America. Bright Leaves describes a journey taken across the social, economic, and psychological tobacco terrain of North Carolina by a native Carolinian, Ross McElwee, whose great-grandfather created the famous brand of tobacco known as Bull Durham. The comedic chronicle is a subjective, autobiographical meditation on the allure of cigarettes and their troubling legacy for the state of North Carolina. It's also a film about family history, addiction, denial, and filmmaking--as McElwee, noted director of Sherman's March, grapples with the legacy of an obscure Hollywood melodrama that is purportedly based on this curious man that was his great-grandfather.