THE STORY: Andrea, a young woman, is attacked by a man, Bartholomew, on her wedding day. On returning home, she tells Eloise, her older sister, and Isabelle and Andrew, her cousins, that her black eye and cut lip are a result of falling, thus protecting her attacker. While the family comforts Andrea, Eloise is quietly dealing with her own pain: Her husband, Jeffrey, has just told her that he is leaving her. The family has been plagued with loss and pain, as Andrea and Eloise’s father recently died and shortly after, their mother committed suicide. Andrew has a chance meeting later on the wedding day with Bartholomew and tells him the story of his cousin’s mishap. Bartholomew had only mugged Andrea out of a desperation to escape to a better life and is now disturbed by this information, but decides he must move on. Thirteen years pass, and the cousins are gathered for another wedding. This time Eloise is to be remarried, but she has been sent the wrong dress, and food has also gone to the wrong party. That night Bartholomew, now a very successful business man, happens to save Andrea from a drunken attacker and is shocked to discover that his mugging of her thirteen years earlier continues to color her life. His own life then takes a downward spiral as we discover in the final scene three years later. At that time, Andrea’s family suffers another loss when Andrew, by now a renowned photographer, dies just before the opening of a major exhibit of his work. At the opening, Isabelle, is expected to speak, and as she sums up the relationships in her family, the remaining cousins reach a new level of understanding and forgiveness.
“Ms. Johnson has an appealing off-center sense of humor, even when something vaguely unsettling is transpiring. You laugh and you shift uneasily at the same time.” —The New York Times.
