THE PLOT:
Michael Waechter(32) is flying home for his mother's college graduation. His mother, Lisa Waechter(50), has spent a lifetime stroking her husband's massively insecure ego. reassuring Professor Charles Waechter(53) that he is indeed the genius he thinks he is. Now that the children have grown and left the house, she has gone back to college to finally attain her degree. Today is Lisa's day. What should be a moment of great celebration, however becomes a targic family reunion as Lisa is killed in a car accident on route to her graduation, leaving Charles, Michael and Michael's precocious sister, Susan(21), to pick up the pieces.
The death of his mother also reunites Michael with Jane(36) who is more like a cousin than an aunt. The coming together unlocks a Pandora's Box of secrets, from a summer spent as teenagers. Always hiding in the shadows, Michael must finally stand up to Charles, who blames his family as the reason why he never attained great fame and respect as an academic. most of all, Michael struggles with his own inner demons-painful childhood memories of his father abusing his mother physically, abusing him psychologically, and the jealousy he feels towards Susan, who wants nothing more than to please her father in order to broker the peace.
Can true closure, whatever that means, indeed ever be achieved? Or rather is one step towards reconciliation, no matter how "small," good enough, at least for now.
! She's a talented girl!
