It's a town of golf courses, palm trees, sandy beaches, neon-lit motels and blue collar residents quietly living out the years under the sun.

But change is coming in the form of rapacious developers who show the guile and cunning of the man-eating crocodiles that lurk in the old plantation swamps.

They are quietly but stealthily targeting the unwitting residents whose homes inconveniently occupy prime beachfront real estate.

Acid-tongued Marly (Edie Falco) reluctantly runs her father's motel and is constantly dodging her failed musician ex-husband, Richard Edson.

Desiree (Bassett) is back for her first visit in 25 years and finds her devout mother Eunice (Mary Alice) has taken in young orphan Terrell (Alex Lewis), a youngster literally playing with fire.

In the shadows, developers Lester and Greg (Miguel Ferrer and Perry Lang) are closing in for the kill - but they may find the locals are made of sterner stuff than first thought.

Sayles' strength is the wonderful ensemble acting he has coaxed out of the cast, which also boasts Clifton James (redneck sheriff JW Pepper in the Bond films) and Ralph Waite (patriarch of The Waltons).

Falco is superb as the waspish divorcee who falls for landscape architect Jack Meadows (Hutton), a man in love with his job but uncertain about the morality of his employers.

Delivering a solid comic turn is Steenburgen, who plays chamber of commerce stalwart Francine Pinckney.

Bemoaning the lacklustre reception for her Buccaneer Days celebration of pirates and lost Spanish gold, she wistfully opines, "People don't realise how hard it is to invent a tradition."

This is a rich, diverting tale which firmly puts people first and tackles some thorny issues such as race and ecology without getting bogged down in political correctness.

Tim Evans