It is impossible to say what is eating Gilbert Grape. He simply lives in a remote village Andorra in Iowa, and has an obese mother, Bonnie, two sisters and half-witted brother Arnie. Mother became obese after her husband had hanged himself. For seven years, she does not go out of the house and the kids would not want anyone to see her obesity and subject her to ridicule. Painful Arnie, according to doctors, can die at any minute, and the only shop of the town, where Gilbert works, is about to close. From time to time, Gilbert meets a married woman and mother of two children called Mrs. Carver. Once a year, a caravan of trailers with tourists passes through the town. This event can be considered as the sole factor of newness and hope that all something will change of a sudden in the lives of the inhabitants of Andorra.