So, the town is surprised when Felix shows up at Reverend Gassy Horton's church with a large roll of cash and requests a "funeral party" for himself, which Rev.

Things get more complicated when an old mystery is remembered, involving a local widow named Mattie Darrow, who was Bush's girlfriend in their youth, and her deceased sister, Mary Lee Stroup.

With the help of Charlie Jackson, a preacher who insists upon the truth from forty years ago being revealed, Bush intends to confess his shame about and complicity in a terrible occurrence.

To the people gathered for his funeral party, he tells the story of how the two of them made plans to run away together and, when she didn't arrive at the agreed place, he went to her home to search for her.

The husband threw a kerosene lamp against a wall to set the house on fire and kill himself, the unconscious Mary Lee, and Bush.

As he went to put the fire out, he felt himself flying through the window, possibly pushed by the husband, and he was unable to re-enter the house to save Mary Lee.

After a short benediction from Charlie, Mattie places a portrait of her sister, Mary Lee, on Felix's casket, allowing them to be together, even if only figuratively.

The site's critics consensus reads: "Subtle to a fault, this perfectly cast ensemble drama is lifted by typically sharp performances from Robert Duvall and Bill Murray.