In the North Mississippi hill country, Barlow (Howard) struggles to balance his need to deal with what he has created; an ex-wife (Winger) who followed him from the rehabilitation ward of a Northern Hospital, a son on the verge of adolescence, a small daughter with an incurable illness, a war buddy and best friend (Le Mat) puzzling over his own consuming love for a funeral home heiress (Arquette), and a mother (Dickinson) who sees in her son the return and demise of her beloved husband all over again.