In the comedy-drama, A Man Called Otto, Tom Hanks plays present-day Otto Anderson, and Hanks’ son Truman plays young Otto.
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The main character is Otto. His wife, Sonya (Rachel Keller), a former teacher, died six months earlier, and 63-year-old Otto is retiring from a Pittsburgh steel plant. Otto becomes grumpy, cynical, and suicidal, but fate has other plans.
Otto attempts to hang himself as he remembers meeting Sonya on a train after being rejected as an enlistee in the army due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Sonya dropped a book, and Otto returned it. Otto’s new neighbors, Marisol (Mariana Treviño), Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and daughters, Abby and Luna (Alessandra Perez and Christiana Montoya), interrupt Otto. They share some Mexican food and borrow an Allen wrench.
Otto returns to his plan. However, the rope doesn’t hold, and he ends up on the floor, where he sees an ad for flowers in the newspaper. He buys flowers, takes them to Sonya’s grave, and talks to her about his new neighbors.
Otto tries carbon monoxide as he remembers a dinner date with Sonya. Sonya kisses him after he tells her about his passion for cars, rejection from the army, and his lack of a job. Marisol is at the door again. Tommy broke his leg falling from a ladder they borrowed from Otto. Marisol asks Otto to take her and her daughters to the hospital.
Heading to the train station, Otto remembers proposing to Sonya after graduating in engineering. At the station, an elderly man falls on the track, and Otto saves him. Someone else grabs Otto’s hand and pulls him from the train’s path. The whole event goes viral.
Otto’s life begins to change. He adopts a stray cat, teaches Marisol to drive, and Otto and Marisol visit Sonya’s favorite bakery. Otto tells Marisol about his broken friendship with Reuben (Laval Schley and Peter Lawson Jones), a neighbor. Reuben liked Fords and Toyotas, but Otto preferred Chevrolets. Otto and Reuben established rules for the neighborhood association under Otto’s chairmanship. Then, Reuben stole the chairmanship. Reuben uses a wheelchair after a stroke. Reuben’s wife Anita (Juanita Jennings and Emonie Ellison) and Jimmy (Cameron Britton), a neighbor, assist Reuben.
Then, Otto befriends Malcolm, a transgender teen and formerly Sonya’s student, who delivers newspapers and flyers. Malcolm says Sonya was one of the few who accepted him. Otto repairs Malcolm’s bike.
Otto avoids Shari Kenzie (Kelly Lamor Wilson), a social media journalist wanting an interview about the viral train video. He’s mad at Marisol for saying he hasn’t accepted Sonya’s death. Otto is also angry with a real estate agent trying to force Reuben into a nursing home because Anita has Parkinson’s disease. The agent wants to sell their house. Otto plans to shoot himself, but Malcolm asks to stay overnight because his father kicked him out. So, Otto helps Reuben and Anita fight the sale.
A pregnant Marisol agrees to help Otto after he tells her that he and Sonya went to Niagara Falls to celebrate Sonya’s pregnancy. Unfortunately, while riding the bus back home, Otto and Sonya get in a crash. Sonya was paralyzed and suffered a miscarriage. Reuben’s and Anita’s home is saved with the additional help of Shari Kenzie and other neighbors.
Otto is hospitalized, and Marisol is told that Otto’s heart is too big as she is going into labor. She laughs. Otto names Marisol as his next of kin. Marisol has a son, Marco, played by a set of Philadelphia triplets.
Otto reconnects with his neighbors, and after buying a truck, he gives his car to Malcolm.
Some years pass, and one day Tommy realizes Otto hasn’t shoveled his sidewalk. They find Otto has passed away due to his enlarged heart. The neighbors attend his funeral, and Marisol learns that Otto left her everything in his will, including his new truck and house.
