Instant Family 🎥 2018 Movie Info

Plot Summary

Couple Pete and Ellie Wagner, pressured by family to have children, consider adoption. They join a foster care course, led by social workers Karen and Sharon. At a fair to meet children, Ellie is voicing her reluctance towards fostering teens when they are confronted by 15-year-old Lizzie, who impresses them. The Wagners discover Lizzie and her siblings, 10-year-old Juan and 6-year-old Lita, who must be kept together. Their mother Carla is an incarcerated drug addict. In their first meeting with the trio, they do not immediately connect, so they reconsider. At Thanksgiving dinner with Ellie’s family, the couple announce they are not going to adopt.

Everyone admits no one believed they would, so Pete and Ellie decide to officially adopt the children. Lizzie, Juan, and Lita move in with the Wagners, whose lives become hectic – Lita throws tantrums, Juan is extremely emotional and fragile, and Lizzie resents Ellie’s attempts to parent them. The Wagners turn to their foster parent support group. Pete’s mother Sandy wins the kids over by taking everyone to Six Flags, but Lizzie disappears with friends and returns late, so Pete grounds her. The next day, while Pete and Ellie confront Lizzie trying to leave with friends, Juan accidentally shoots his foot with a nail gun.

Seeing Pete and Ellie rush a hysterical Juan to the hospital and comfort both he and Lita, Lizzie begins to warm up to them, taking the blame in front of social worker Karen. After Lizzie and Ellie argue, sparked by suppressed Lizzie’s emotions, Pete invites her to vent by helping demolish the kitchen of a renovation project. She later apologizes to Ellie, calling a truce. Over the next two months, the Wagners relationship with the children gradually improves. Lita calls Pete “Daddy” first. Then, one night Ellie comforts Juan when he has a nightmare.

Meet the Cast