The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen year old middle child
Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace it left the family scarred and
scrambling. One night twelve years later oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen
in Catfight a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister Nina: This woman's
hair is dyed red and she calls herself Ruby but the beauty mark under her left eye is
instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy after all this time? The years since Ruthy's
disappearance haven't been easy on the Ramirez family. It's 2008 and their mother Dolores
still struggles with the loss Jessica juggles a newborn baby with her hospital job and Nina
after four successful years at college has returned home to medical school rejections and is
forced to work in the mall folding tiny bedazzled thongs at the lingerie store. After seeing
maybe Ruthy on their screen Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to where the show is filmed
in search of their long lost sister. When Dolores catches wind of their scheme she insists on
joining along with her pot-stirring holy roller best friend Irene. What follows is a family
road trip and reckoning that will force the Ramirez women to finally face the past and look
toward a future-with or without Ruthy in it. What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a vivid family
portrait in all its shattered reality exploring the familial bonds between women and cycles
of generational violence colonialism race and silence replete with snark resentment
tenderness and of course love--
