From the first moment they meet, Eddie Beckwith could not abide Rick Porter, the young child psychologist his daughter, Jenny, has brought home from Boston. Eddie is convinced that it is Porter’s plan to destroy the Beckwith family and as his wife Abby argues in Porter’s behalf, the more convinced is Eddie that Porter is achieving his aim. When Eddie descends into a terrible silence and Porter is caught in bed with another woman, both marriages hover on the brink of dissolution. Eddie’s desperate gambit at the end ironically heals where he intended harm. Whether the healing will last, however, remains an open question.