Plot Summary

Having recently turned 50, Marion feels that so far she has led a blessed life. The well-respected Dean of Philosophy at a women's college, she is currently on sabbatical to write her latest book. Although her first husband Sam died tragically 14 years ago from a mixture of alcohol and pills, she has recently married Ken, who had pursued her while he was still married to someone else and his writer friend Larry also professed his love for her. She has a good relationship with her stepdaughter Laura, seemingly better than Laura's relationships with either Ken or Kathy, her volatile mother. Between her and her brother Paul, Marion always had the attention of their academic father, and she and Ken have a wide circle of friends with whom they regularly, willingly socialize. But a series of incidents with these people in her life makes Marion wonder about the decisions that she's made, most specifically whether her cerebral and judgmental nature has been alienating to those around her. One of these incidents is her surprise reunion with her best childhood friend, actress Claire. But arguably the most illuminating incidents involve encounters with Hope, a despondent patient of her workspace neighbor, a psychiatrist whose therapy sessions Marion can hear through the building's ventilation system. Will Marion be fully able to comprehend the extent to which these decisions have negatively affected her life and relationships? If so, can she make the necessary changes at this stage in her life path to be more fulfilled?—Huggo