In a modest house in suburban America, Paul Gold (Joshua Jackson) lies in his bedroom in a coma, nursed by his mother, Esther (Glen Close). Esther dutifully tends to Paul day and night, and in doing so has distanced herself from her husband Howard (Robert Klein) and teenage daughter Julie (Jessica Campbell).A stone's throw away, Annette Jennings (Patricia Clarkson), is in the midst of a messy divorce, all the while trying to keep herself and her two children functioning normally, on a swiftly dwindling budget.Meanwhile, after years dedicated to his job, Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney), begins to realize that his family, headed by his efficient wife Susan (Moira Kelly), functions just fine without him. Their son Jake (Alex House), has problems of his own as he finds it increasingly hard to conceal his burgeoning romantic relationship with Tani, his little sister's twelve-inch plastic doll.Helen Chrisianson (Mary Kay Place), is bored by her husband and the banalities of her life. Beneath her chipper fa ade, she has secretly begun looking for something or someone to bring her back to life. Also, tending to the yard work in the neighborhood is Randy (Timothy Olyphant), friendly and outgoing on the surface, but harboring dark secrets that will soon come boiling to the surface.They go about their lives surrounded by the possessions that they hold dear. But over the course of four days, their intertwined worlds will collide with the past.