Alternately tragic and comic, an investigation of the intricacies of love in both its brightest and darkest corners. Adapted from John Irving's best-selling novel A Widow For One Year, the film is situated in the privileged beach community of East Hampton, New York and chronicles one pivotal summer in the lives of famous children's book author Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) and his beautiful wife Marion (Kim Basinger). Their once-great marriage has been strained by tragedy. Her resulting despondency and his infidelities have prevented the couple by confronting a shift. Eddie O'Hare, the young man Ted hires to work as his summer assistant, is the unwitting yet willing pawn of the couple - and, ultimately, the catalyst in the transformation of these lifestyles.