Sexually abused as a young girl, Kate "Ma" Barker grows into a violent and powerful woman by the 1930s. She lovingly dominates her grown sons and grooms them into a pack of tough crooks. The boys include the cruel Herman, who still shares a bed with Ma; Fred, an ex-con who fell in love with a fellow prisoner; and Lloyd, who gets high on whatever's handy. Together they form a deadly, bizarre family of Depression-era bandits.
Keywords: bank-robbery , based-on-true-story , dysfunctional-family , female-gangleader , female-gangster , gangster , incest , machine-gun , mother-son-relationship , murder , prison , rape , sexual-abuse , suicide