Igby Slocumb (Culkin) is a rebellious, sarcastic seventeen-year-old at war with the stifling world
of "old money" privilege into which he was born. With a schizophrenic father (Pullman), a self-
absorbed, distant mother (Sarandon), and a shark-like young republican big brother (Phillippe),
Igby figures there must be a better life out there -- and sets about finding it.
After flunking out of yet another prep school, Igby is sent to a Midwest military academy. From
there, with his mother's pilfered credit card, he goes on the lam. Ending up in New York, he
hides out at his godfather's (Goldblum) weekend pied-a-terre and hangs out with a deviant cast of
characters, including his godfather's trophy girlfriend (Peet) and the terminally bored Sookie
Sapperstein (Danes). In his quest to free himself from the oppressive dysfunction of his family,
Igby's struggles veer from comic to tragic in an ultimately noble attempt to keep himself from
"going down."