- Suffering from a terminal illness, an elderly woman recalls in delirium a tragedy from her youth, when her brief romance with a young doctor has unforeseeable consequences for a mutual friend secretly in love with her.
- The love which binds mother and daughter - seen through the prism of one mother's life as it crests with optimism, navigates a turning point, and ebbs to its close. Overcome by the power of memory, Ann Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) reveals a long-held secret to her concerned daughters; Constance Haverford (Natasha Richardson), a content wife and mother, and Nina Mars (Toni Collette), a restless single woman. Both are bedside when Ann calls out for the man she loved more than any other. But who is this "Harris", wonder her daughters, and what is he to our mother? While Constance and Nina try to take stock of Ann's life and their own lives, their mother is tended to by a night nurse (Dame Eileen Atkins) as she journeys in her mind back to a summer weekend around fifty years before, when she was Ann Grant (Claire Danes), a young woman who has come from New York City to be maid of honor at the high-society Newport wedding of her dearest friend from college, Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer). The bride-to-be is jittery, and turns to her maid of honor rather than her own mother for support. Ann stays close to her friend, yet is even closer to Lila's irrepressible brother Buddy Wittenborn (Hugh Dancy). Unexpected feelings surge forth once Ann meets wedding guest Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), a life-long friend and intimate of the Wittenborn family. Ann's love for Harris will change her life, and those of her daughters, forever.—Focus Features
- While in her deathbed, Ann Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) repeats the name "Harris" and recalls the day in the 1950s when she was an aspirant singer and travelled from New York City to be the maid of honor of her wealthy friend Lila Wittenborn's (Mamie Gummer's) wedding in Newport. Ann Grant (Claire Danes) is welcomed by Lila's alcoholic and reckless brother Buddy Wittenborn (Hugh Dancy) in the Wittenborn's cottage at seaside and he tells her that his sister is in love with their friend and servant Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), who fought in the war and has graduated in medicine. Later the bride-to-be confesses her true feelings about Harris to Ann. However, when Ann meets Harris, she has a crush on him and they have a brief affair. Meanwhile, Ann's daughters, the insecure and unstable Nina Mars (Toni Collette) and the happy wife and mother Constance Haverford (Natasha Richardson), are worried with their mother and have differences to be resolved.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- As Ann lays bedridden, living out the last couple of days of her life, she begins to hallucinate and relive the weekend that changed her life forever - the weekend when she was invited to be the maid of honour to best friend Lila Wittenborn, and met Harris Arden - the love of her life.
Ann had gone to college together with Lila and her baby brother Buddy, who had since then developing a crush on Ann without her knowing. The headstrong, free-spirited night club singer from New York did not mix well with the New Port society; equally ill at ease are Buddy and Harris. Buddy is an idealist young man who drown his frustration with himself and his family stature into bottles of champagne; while Harris has to deal with the constant reminder that he should know "his place" when socialising with the masters, even though he is now a respected doctor.
While Ann and Harris left the party to spend a night together, Buddy was killed in a car accident when chasing after them. Overwhelmed with guilt, and knowing that Lila is still in love with Harris, the lovers parted ways even though they remained in love with each other.
Running parallel to the flashback, another plot line shows Ann's two daughters struggling with old feuds and the pressure of looking after the dying woman. Connie grew up witnessing her mothers two failed marriages and singing career, and became the typical suburban working soccer mom. Younger sister Nina turned the other way and became a drifter, never settling down to one man, couldn't hold a job; and is now unsure of how to go on with her life because she is pregnant.
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