Adapted by Ethan Hawke from his own novel of the same name, "The Hottest State" is a bittersweet romance that distills the joy, pain, erotic highs, and emotional lows of first love. Ethan Hawke directs and co-stars in the film along with Mark Webber, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Laura Linney.

Days before his 21st birthday, William (Mark Webber), an actor, meets and quickly falls madly in love with Sara (Oscar-nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno), a seductive yet elusive singer/songwriter. The film follows William from a Lower East Side tenement to a Mexican hotel room to a snowbound weekend in Connecticut to a sweltering homecoming in the hottest state of all – Texas – in the pursuit of Sara. His stubborn and sweetly innocent quest to find someone who loves him as much as he loves her may not lead to happiness, but surely leads to newfound maturity.