Field plays a widow who has somehow to fend for herself and ward off the bank whose first thought is to foreclose on the mortgage.

With a few companions - the black handyman who she saves from the law when he steals from her, the sister whose husband is having an affair with his best friend's wife, the blind man foisted on her by his conniving banker relative - she plants fields of cotton and scrapes up a living while learning the hard facts of commercial life through the black man's seasoned eyes.

All these elements are entertaining in themselves, as is the tornado scene in their midst, but they never quite pull together.

And the ending, though 'different', just doesn't work: the structure of the film demands a big emotional climax which it doesn't get.

Also, the film walks a tightrope between sentiment and common sense from which it frequently falls.

Writer-director Robert Benton has failed to give his material, however affectionately or rationally observed, the vital emotional surge to reach out to a general audience - even with the admirable Field at the head, and a sturdy supporting cast that includes Lindsay Crouse, Terry O'Quinn, John Malkovich, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan and Danny Glover.