You may find the character she plays hard to take, but Meredith Baxter gets right inside her role and produces a tour de force in this intense, well-scripted family drama. Very loosely based on real events, it tells the story of Muriel, a novelist tormented by her past. Her caring husband Bill (John Heard) does his level best to understand Muriel, who was abused as a child and is trying to kick her alcohol habit. But then, at the magazine where she has started work, she is attracted to Don (Peter Coyote), who has a violent history... It's an emotional maelstrom of a movie which some may find distasteful - but you have to admire the committed performances.

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