Heartwrenching themes are treated with welcome restraint in this understated family drama. Using a Thanksgiving reunion as the focal point, it stars Dana Delany as a bohemian artist and single parent who struggles to reconcile with her disapproving mother (Doris Roberts) after learning the elderly widow has Alzheimer's. Harsh words and painful truths naturally follow - but minus the usual avalanche of TV-movie schmaltz. Instead, sincere performances and sensitive direction add an air of authenticity to the simple plotline - the gradual emotional thawing of the terrified but acerbic Roberts is most sharp affecting - without being too manipulative. Nonetheless, a contrived final act heralds a predictable conclusion, although the convenience of events is somewhat mitigated by their fundamental warmth.

An artist and single mother returns to her childhood home to patch things up with her mother who has Alzheimers disease.