When women from three generations of a family spend time together at a lakeside retreat, the eldest, Rose (Piper Laurie), an 85-year-old grandmother is flooded with memories. It’s not just the surroundings, the spot where she and other family members have been summering for decades, that unleash a tide of recollections. Mother-daughter tensions between her granddaughter Allison (Emily Baldoni) and Rose’s daughter Patty (Brooke Adams) remind the senior member of the family of earlier times. The early ’60s, when she was a newlywed, vacationing at the lake with her husband are filled with bittersweet memories. As the film proceeds, we travel back in time as a younger Rose (Shannon Collis) meets Louise (Emily Goss), a redheaded free spirit who rents a cabin nearby with her husband, Zee (Brett Dier).
“…Rose and Louise became secret lovers and carried on an affair over the course of four years.”
Roses memories of nearly six decades earlier begin to flood back as she learns about Allison’s less than happy domestic life. She’s pregnant and deciding what to do about it. Meanwhile, Allison and Patty are at loggerheads, partly due to Patty’s excessive drinking.
The crux of the story is that Rose and Louise became secret lovers and carried on an affair over the course of four years. Rose’s husband, Joe (Max Adler) is a nice enough guy, however, Rose remembers Louise as the love of her life. Ultimately, Rose and Louise’s affair ended when feelings of guilt and societal pressures became oppressive, not because they fell out of love. It was the early 1960s, after all, and it would be a while before same-sex relationships would gain greater public acceptance.
“…invited to soak in the retro atmosphere as the story unfolds at a leisurely pace.”
Fortunately, the film avoids taking us down a predictable path and instead provides what feels like a more true to life recollection of days gone by. That may be because the movie is based on real-life events. Writer and producer Jan Miller Corran says that in making the film, she decided to go public with an old family secret. It’s apparent throughout that this is a true labor of love.
Excited to see this movie -what a cast…. I’m a fan of Emily Baldoni and Bret Dier, and it will be great to see them on screen in the same movie! I typically don’t comment but have been doing so because I support anything from the Baldonis and Bret Dier (and excited to see the rest of the cast too). (How Emily Baldoni has a movie coming out and 2 babies both under age 3 or 4 (I think) amazes me!!! Love the storyline, especially that it’s directly based on real life, a personal story of the movie’s writer/producer. I think it’s well overdue for “mainstream” movies to continue featuring stories about what we used to think were “non-traditional” themes but are really just life as it has unfolded for decades and centuries (ie regardless of societal limitations, life still happened and happens, just not in a free, uninhibited, non-judgmental way. I am, however, interested
to see how the infidelity (marital and across generations of women) is handled…. congrats to the cast and crew.
Eight out of ten speaks well for this film, and an excellent report card for the film’s makers.