The film stars Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Vondie Curtis-Hall, David Strathairn, Leo Burmester, and Angela Bassett.

It tells the story of a soap opera star (McDonnell), who after becoming paralyzed from a car crash, is forced by circumstance to return to her family home and rely upon a series of nurses for her basic care.

[6][7][8] Emanuel Levy noted, "Working again in the 'woman’s picture' domain, Sayles showed he could deal with material usually seen in 'TV Movie of the Week' in a mature, non-melodramatic way.

"[9] Levy continued, "On the surface, the heroines play familiar types, but Sayles again shows his forte in etching deft characterizations, detailing the emotional transformation of each woman and the bond they establish once they get to know one another.

"[9] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Passion Fish four out of four stars and wrote, "There are elements here of a vaguely similar relationship in 'Driving Miss Daisy,' but Sayles has his own film, direct and original, and in the struggle of wills between these two characters he creates two of the most interesting human portraits of the year.

"[10] Janet Maslin of The New York Times also lauded the film and observed Sayles "refuses to make his characters simple or stupid for the movies.

Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "It’s a critical cliche to talk about Oscar-worthy performances in the flood of year-end candidates, but Woodard and McDonnell deserve a look—from everybody.

[14] Passion Fish received a limited release on December 9, 1992,[3] running for one week, the minimum required to make it eligible for consideration at the next year's Academy Awards.