Female friendship, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s Disease may not sound like the ingredients for a heartwarming, cathartic story and yet the new film My Dead Friend Zoe is a winning combination. Though the title might suggest something lighter or funnier, this feature debut from Kyle Hausmann-Stokes is a grounded, sympathetic tale about moving on after war and the impossible task of reintegrating into a life that no longer seems to fit.

Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery, The Walking Dead) is Merit, a recently returned Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. It was during her first tour that she met Zoe (Natalie Morales), forging the type of bond that feels permanent and unbreakable. We get to know the pair and their dynamic in Dr. Cole’s (Morgan Freeman) group therapy sessions that Merit is ordered to attend. Zoe sits right next to her, goading and needling, reminding Merit in playfully flippant wants that she is, of course, dead.

Martin-Green and Morales have a natural chemistry. It is easy to believe their friendship, and easy to understand how Merit could feel so haunted by a presence as brash and bold as Zoe. We also get to know the two through flashbacks to the time when both were alive and well, laughing about gossip from around the platoon or making plans for after their tour was through. But Merit’s grief and efforts to move forward are halted. She is stuck in indecision, unsure what to do next or even how to start. This problem is further exacerbated by her grandfather’s (a marvelously acerbic Ed Harris) accelerating Alzheimer’s.

Also part of her journey are mom Kris (Gloria Reuben) and new friend Alex (Utkarsh Ambudkar). These relationships are vital to her ability to heal, although she sometimes sees them as hinderances for their refusal to let her wallow in self-pity and despair. Though the subject matter is serious and the overall tone is straightforward and sometimes heavy, these supporting characters — and Zoe’s constant presence — buoy the film and help it feel lively and energized.

Hausmann-Stokes, who also co-wrote the script, bases this story on his own experiences in Afghanistan, and on the people he knew there. He neither glorifies war nor diminishes the soldiers who sign up to go. The other members in Dr. Cole’s therapy group are also veterans, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan and the actors playing them are real-life vets. Because of his military history, Hausmann-Stokes is able to develop realistic characters with flaws and struggles, giving Merit a believable collection of fears, outbursts, and coping strategies. Despite his condition with Alzheimer’s, she also finds some needed tough love from her veteran grandfather as well as an added responsibility that gives her a reason to keep going.

Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales in MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE — Courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment

Military movies have always been a staple of cinema. There are war epics like Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Saving Private Ryan. Basic training dramas like An Officer and a Gentleman or Stripes. And, of course, there are the movies about afterward, the stories of the soldiers who, whether they come home as heroes or not — The Best Years of Our Lives, Coming Home, Born on the Fourth of July. Though less common, there are also military movies from the perspective of female soldiers too. Films like Private Benjamin, G.I. Jane, and Megan Leavey highlight women working in traditionally male spaces, sometimes having to fight harder than the men to be taken seriously.

In Zoe, most of the wartime scenes involve the two soldiers going about their work while talking about later. It isn’t specifically about the female experience as a US servicemember in Afghanistan in the 21st century. But there are also parts of the story that do feel uniquely and authentically female. The relationship between Merit and her mother captures the sometimes infuriating but ultimately loving tumult of mothers and daughters.

Merit and Zoe’s relationship also feels naturally female. The way they relate to each other, what they share and don’t share are likely influenced by co-writers Cherish Chen and A.J. Bermudez. Through flashbacks, we know Merit plans to go to college when she gets back and Zoe thinks college is a waste of time. She prefers to sign up for another tour and dismisses all of Merit’s promises that they’ll stay close after. But all of these conversations slowly reveal more details, building to the tragedy we already know is inevitable. When we finally learn what happened to Zoe, it makes sense why she is still hanging around and why Merit can’t let her go.

My Dead Friend Zoe is an uncomplicated film about complicated people, patiently working through trauma and grief in ways that are sometimes funny, sometimes exacerbating, and always deeply human.

My Dead Friend Zoe is now in theaters.