What makes a home? What makes a family, or community? Struggling single mother Sandra (co-screenwriter Clare Dunne) finds out in “Herself,” Phyllida Lloyd’s third feature film. Due to the housing crisis and an abusive former relationship, she is staying in government-provided temporary accommodations with her two daughters, and trying to figure out where and how they are supposed to live. Then she discovers it’s possible to build a home for about 35,000 euros, and decides to do just that.

As the film’s title suggests, this is very much Sandra’s story. “Herself” focuses on her specific experience, which includes multiple jobs and a custody battle with her ex. However, the film also provides a wider look at the intersection of gender and class, as well as the support mutual aid and found families can provide when public institutions won’t. It’s Sandra’s idea to build her own house, but she doesn’t do it alone. The woman she cleans for (Harriet Walter) offers land, a gruff-but-kind contractor (Conleth Hill) offers expertise, and a wider network of friends and acquaintances offer their help. Sandra doesn’t just build a house in “Herself,” she also builds her own community and support system.

It’s uplifting and lovely to see — especially in COVID times, when so many of us only have each other to lean on. Yet “Herself” never lets us forget that the system has failed Sandra. Although she’s lucky to have generous friends and neighbors, she’s also a casualty of the housing crisis and marginalized as a survivor of domestic violence and as a single, poor woman. The public sector should be providing her a safety net, but instead that responsibility has fallen on herself and her friends.

Brave, intelligent, and determined, Sandra is an easy character to root for and empathize with. She perseveres in a terrible situation because she has no other choice. “Herself” is both a celebration of one woman’s ingenuity and an indictment of the society that has cast her aside.

“Herself” is now available on Amazon Prime Video.