Screenwriter/director Tod Williams's tasteful, discreet drama is based on the first third of John Irving's novel A Widow for One Year. Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger star as Ted and Marion Cole, a couple whose teenage sons died in an accident some years ago. The tragedy has crushed the marriage - photographs of the boys line the hallway, suggesting the ever-present grief in the house - and not even the couple's four-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning, sister of Dakota) can ease their sorrow. Ted, a famous children's author, has descended into drinking and womanising, while Marion begins a relationship with her husband's 16-year-old assistant (Jon Foster). This is a mature, subtle and surprising drama that delicately examines the hidden pains of a marriage as well as the healing powers of intimacy.

The lives of Ted and Marion Cole are thrown into disarray when their two adolescent sons die in a car wreck. Marion withdraws from Ted and Ruth, the couple's daughter. Ted, a well-known writer, hires as his assistant a student named Eddie, who looks oddly similar to one of the Coles' dead sons. The couple separate, and Marion begins an affair with Eddie, while Ted has a dalliance with his neighbor Evelyn.