Deanna Dunagan

Jessica Lange and Halle Berry give performances of uncommon poignancy and depth. Lange plays an adoptive mother who gives an abandoned child a new chance at life. Berry, in a remarkable portrayal heralded as her dramatic breakthrough, is the birth mother who cleans up her life and sets out to reclaim the child. Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) portrays her firebrand attorney.

Jessica Lange and Halle Berry give performances of uncommon poignancy and depth. Lange plays an adoptive mother who gives an abandoned child a new chance at life. Berry, in a remarkable portrayal heralded as her dramatic breakthrough, is the birth mother who cleans up her life and sets out to reclaim the child. Samuel L. Jackson portrays her firebrand attorney.

Life has just handed Beth Macauley the short straw. Her husband and suburban home are gone. She still has her two boys - and a new destination. She's moving to the big city of Baltimore - and into the biggest adventure of her life. Two-time Academy Award winner* Jessica Lange plays Beth in this warm-hearted, funny fable from Risky Business director Paul Brickman about staying together when all else is falling apart. Screen-debuting Chris O'Donnell (two years before his star making Scent of a Woman role) and Charlie Korsmo are the sons who unwittingly push Beth into one pitfall of single parenthood after another. Newcomers to Beth's world include an avant-garde composer (Arliss Howard), a flakier-than-cereal neighbor (Joan Cusack) and a boss (Kathy Bates) skilled in management by terror.

Jessica Lange plays Beth in this warm-hearted, funny fable about staying together when all else is falling apart. Chris O'Donnell and Charlie Korsmo make their debut as the sons who unwittingly push her into one pitfall of single parenthood after another.