Plot Summary
Diana Sullivan (Jill Clayburgh) is a successful Manhattan writer and photojournalist, seemingly oblivious to the serious cocaine addicition that her wild child daughter Grace (Martha Plimpton) has developed. A commission by Cosmopolitan magazine to write an article about a lost branch of Diana's family leads them deep into the bayous of Louisiana, where they encounter Diana's distant cousin, Ruth (Barbara Hershey). Married at 12 to an abusive man whose current whereabouts are an increasingly troubling cipher, Ruth rules over her 3 adult sons, all less than perfectly cogent, with equal parts protectiveness and ferocity, while a fourth, disowned son adds to the volatility of the situation. As the fascinated Diana and wary Ruth circle one another, Grace, bored and in grip of her addiction, toys with her naive cousins with devastating consequences.
Read more about this topic: Shy People
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