Sandra (Susan Sarandon) and Wiley (Don Johnson) were married soon after high school, but now find themselves estranged from each other. Meanwhile, their old friend Sam (Jeff Daniels) thinks he has found true love for the first time with Adie (Elizabeth Perkins), a new schoolteacher. As the seasons change in a small Vermont town, friendships are tested as one relationship withers and another grows, and four individuals struggle to figure out what they really want.