The film tells the story of a middle-class family that is torn apart when a traumatic event happens to one of the teenage children.
Mike is a promising high school athlete, Patrick is a studious achiever, Marianne is a saintly cheerleader, and Judd is the youngest.
Marianne attends the school Harvest Ball dance, where popular jock Zachary Lundt wooes her and gets her intoxicated.
On the car ride home, Corinne nearly runs over a dog, and the incident triggers Marianne's trauma; through tears, she confesses what happened.
The rest of the family learns what happened and Michael flies off the handle, begging Marianne to press charges against Zachary.
He takes him to a nearby swamp, where he falls underwater and is about to drown until Patrick realizes that he does not want to kill his worst enemy.
[2][3] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that while the film starts to lose focus in its later half and "some viewers won't be able to comprehend Michael's distance from his daughter", the filmmakers are able to "bring it back to a place of credibility".
[4] He added "Danner and Bridges make you believe they're a couple who have been in love for years", and that "all the actors portraying Mulvaneys fit their roles".
[4] The New York Times' Ron Wertheimer wrote that the director and screenwriters "cannot find the emotional essence [in Oates' book] that explains Michael to the viewer's heart.