CODA - I've never done anything without my family before

Ruby is a child of deaf adults, who is also the only hearing person in her family. Her family runs a fishing business, and she works there after school. Being raised by deaf parents, Ruby didn't even know how to speak fluently and got teased by her classmates when she started school. With such terrible experience, she doesn't really have a lot of confidence in herself, because she hates being the embarrassing one. She has a crush on her classmate, Miles, so she joins the choir when she knows he is joining too. In the audition, each of them is required to sing a verse. When Ruby is about to sing, she already feels like her classmates are going to laugh her, so she runs away. She is scared, but it isn't because she has a terrible voice. Her voice is indeed angelic, but she gets nervous when being asked to sing in front of her classmates. She later tells Bernardo, the music teacher, about her family background, and she subsequently becomes a choir member. Bernardo knows she has a beautiful voice, so he arranges her to perform a duet with Miles. It is awkward when they sing together the first time, because she can't even look at his eyes when singing. To be more comfortable with singing duet, Ruby invites Miles to her home practice together. It went well until her parents make weird noise in the other room. Her dad is trying to give her a weird pep talk, so Ruby asks Miles to leave to avoid further embarrassment. Though it's so weird, Miles still thinks she has got a loving family, while his family is nothing like that.

As most of them are disabled, so their family business don't get good deals like others. They don't want to be treated unequally, so they kind of decide to sell their own fishes. To cope with the rising demand, they have to work harder, so as Ruby. However, Ruby is still a student and she has been taking Bernardo's private lesson to polish her singing in the hope for being admitted to Berklee College of Music. As she is the only hearing worker, so they need her now more than ever as they need to cooperate with other fisherman too. As a result, she is late for Bernardo's class and he is mad about it. She is torn between helping with her family business and taking Bernardo's class. Being the only hearing member, she knows she has the responsibility to take care of other family members. As the same time, she has been relying her family since she was young, so she doesn't know what to do without their support.

You want to know why I'm a teacher? I'm good at this. But I can't do my job unless you do yours. And I certainly don't need a lesson in failure from someone who's too afraid to even try.

Going to Berklee is her dream, and she thinks she should be a bit more selfish this time. She has been interpreting for them the entire life, and she is tired of it. She loves singing, and she really want to pursue her dream rather than working for them for the rest of her life. Their boat licenses get suspended because there is no hearing person answer the radio. Ruby knows how important she is in the family and their fishing business, so she has no choice but stay.

Ruby invites her family to come to her choir's concert. Though none of her family member is able to enjoy her performance, she still wants them to be there to share what she likes. They can't hear while singing, but they can feel her passion when she is singing her heart out. They can feel that her performance tugs at the heartstrings by seeing how others react with her duet with Miles. Ruby has always been the different one in the family. Before she was born, her mom even hoped she was deaf so she could be one of them. Though she has the hearing ability, it doesn't make her not part of the family.

When you were born, at the hospital, they gave you a hearing test. And there you were, so tiny and sweet, with these electrodes all over you. And I... prayed that you would be deaf. When they told us that you were hearing, I felt... My heart sank.

Even though the family can't relate much to her performance on stage, they are still supportive of her dream. The movie not only depicts the dynamics of a deaf family but it is also about the struggle Ruby has when transitioning into adulthood. She has to choose between sticking with her family or pursuing her own dream. Throughout the movie, she has turned from a shy awkward girl to a wonderful singer who really shines on stage.