The supporting cast includes Fred Ward, Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart, Candice Bergen, Ethan Embry, and Melanie Lynskey.

[1] On a beach in Pigeon Creek, Alabama, 10-year-olds Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter inspect the result of lightning striking sand.

In the present, Melanie is a New York fashion designer who has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots.

After wealthy Andrew Hennings proposes, Melanie returns to her hometown to Pigeon Creek, Alabama, to announce her engagement to her parents Earl and Pearl Smooter and to finalize her divorce from her estranged husband Jake, whom she married as a pregnant teenager and left after she miscarried their baby.

Meanwhile, Kate Hennings, Andrew's mother and current Mayor of New York City, doubts Melanie's suitability to wed her son, whom she is grooming to run for President of the United States.

After he orders her out of the house, Melanie empties Jake's checking account, hoping to spur him into ending the marriage.

Jake scolds her and takes her home, preventing her from driving drunk, and Melanie wakes to find the signed divorce papers on her bed.

She is cornered there by Kate's assistant Barry Lowenstein, who is sent to gather information on Melanie's background, posing as a reporter for the New York Post.

Melanie finds Jake at the beach planting lightning rods in the sand to create more glass sculptures.

A mid-credits sequence shows that they have a baby daughter, Melanie continues to thrive as a designer, and Jake opens a "Deep South Glass" franchise in New York.

[4] Roger Ebert, critic for the Chicago Sun Times, awarded it three out of four stars, commenting, "It is a fantasy, a sweet, light-hearted fairy tale with Reese Witherspoon at its center.

"[5] Andrew Sarris, critic for the New York Observer, said that the movie "Would be an unendurable viewing experience for this ultra-provincial New Yorker if 26-year-old Reese Witherspoon were not on hand to inject her pure fantasy character, Melanie Carmichael, with a massive infusion of old-fashioned Hollywood magic.

"[6] The film grossed over US$35 million in its first weekend, ranking number one at the box office, beating The Tuxedo and Barbershop.