WADE WHITEHOUSE (Nick Nolte) lives and works in the small, economically – depressed town of Lawford, New Hampshire, a place that seems to have no past and no future. Life has not been kind to Wade. His marriage to LILLIAN (Mary Beth Hurt) is over, and he rarely gets to see his daughter, JILL (Brigid Tierney). He works for GORDON LARIVIERE (Holmes Osborne,) a local businessman, and serves as the town’s police officer, a glorified traffic cop. But, mostly Wade just tries to get through the day without screwing up — something he does regularly.