Ten year old Chris Marino (Devon Gearhart) lives in a blue-collar beach town where he can often be found fishing at the water's edge. His father, John (Emmy Award Winner Joe Pantoliano), is a carpenter and his mother, Mary (Academy Award Winner Marcia Gay Harden), suffers from schizophrenia and paints her dreams onto canvas. Chris attempts to conceal his mother's illness, but her bizarre public behaviour alienates him from the kids at school. When his mother sews a mismatched patch on his shirt, Chris is angry at first, until he receives numerous compliments from other kids and requests for more shirts. When Mary's illness leads her to violence that endangers the entire family, John has no choice but to hospitalize the woman he loves. Unable to cope with his wife's illness, John immerses himself day and night in building a sailboat, neglecting his son and his job. Chris, feeling hurt by his father and unable to cope with his mother's illness, takes his emotions out on his father's unfinished boat leaving a hole in the hull. With some of the money Chris made selling his custom shirts, he approaches his father to offer help to fix the boat and reconcile his emotions. Father and son take the finished boat out on a maiden voyage where John tells him his dream is to take Mary sailing in the boat he promised her years ago. The film traces the family's journey, from struggling to cope, to learning to accept and ultimately coming closer together through love, understanding and mutual support.