Mildred Hayes is the beleaguered mother of a young woman who was violently murdered. As the investigation into her daughter's death stalls, Mildred takes things into her own hands and hires a painter to erect three billboards on the main roads leading into the center of the city. The billboards are designed to capture the attention of the lackadaisical police chief, who seems to be doing next to nothing to find the young woman's killer. The deputy chief of police, a violent man himself, gets extremely riled up about the billboards, and a lot more violence and darkness takes place.
