She misses her life as a doctor in Africa and suspects that Nick is not faithful to her when Scott's young and attractive assistant, Robin, arrives.

Instead of dealing with her loss, she feels scattered and disconnected, pretending that nothing has happened and she even claims that Nick should have never returned from Nepal to support her.

The marriage continues to crumble, and Nick eventually commits infidelity by sleeping with Ellie's best friend, Eileen, the one woman who took care of him when his wife did not.

Left with a broken heart, she takes Melissa and leaves for Africa, despite Nick and Eileen's attempts to assure her that their one night together meant nothing.

[1] Zuckerman furthermore criticized writer Sue Jett for waiting for the marital discretion to occur until halfway through the movie, as well as stating that the last half of the film "crumbled".

[1] On a more cheerful side, syndicated columnist Judy Flander wrote that the infidelity theme was explored with "refreshing candor".

He does commit adultery, yes, but gee, it's with plain, dull, frumpy old Eileen (Laurie O'Brien) and not with his young, beautiful, tantalizing blond assistant Robin (the gawjuss Courtney Thorne-Smith).