William Coit and his wife Robin travel from Los Angeles to Colorado to attend his mom's wedding to a wealthy man named Gerry. As Robin meets William's mom Jill and brother Seth for the first time (they didn't attend their wedding), Robin notices how odd the relationships are between them and how controlling Jill is. William gets in an argument with his mom at the reception and grabs Robin as they storm out of the mountainside home. He refuses to talk about it.
Back in Los Angeles, Robin throws William a birthday party. William's Uncle Paul shows up and tells William that his father left him a substantial amount of money in a trust fund and that Jill has lied and deceived him for many years about many things including the fact that she murdered his father. William travels to Houston to investigate these allegations and discovers they are probably true. He then confronts his mom who denies everything. At about that time a former husband of hers shows up and tells William she is still married to him and had taken all his money.
William goes home to Robin who is very upset that he has not called during this time and doesn't want to tell her what is going on. He finally talks, telling her about his screwed up childhood and all the terrible things his mom has done.
Court papers from Houston arrive that confirm William has a trust fund that his mom has been stealing money from. He confronts his mother yet again but she continues to lie and make excuses.
Back in Los Angeles again, William gets a call from his brother Seth saying Jill has asked him to kill her new husband, Gerry. William and Robin drive to Colorado to find that Gerry has been murdered. Seth says it was Jill's new boyfriend Mike who did it. As William gives information to the Colorado police, they give him even more information of Jill's lifelong trail of dead husbands or husbands who have been cheated out of their money.
Back in Los Angeles again, William gets a call from his mom to come pick her and Mike up at the airport. The police instruct him to bring them back to their house where they will arrest them. Unfortunately Jill and Mike suspect something is up and are dropped off at a motel. By the time police get there, they are gone. Days later, Jill calls William and asks him to tell Seth to meet her with a box of cash she has hidden away. At the meeting place at the designated time, the police arrive and arrest Jill and Mike. Jill is put away in jail where, William learns on a visit, she is still living in her delusional world that she has done nothing wrong.
This is an excellent movie, despite a couple of plot holes, which has been overlooked. Bonnie Bedelia is incredible as Jill and Neil Patrick Harris, who normally I personally can't stand, does an outstanding job as William Coit. Meredith does some of her finest work in this story as William's wife Robin.
As Robin, Meredith is trying hard to understand her husband, trying hard to get him to communicate with her, and really conveys the frustration, love, and anger a wife would go through as her husband dealt with his severely dysfunctional and criminal family. It is a substantial role and one that is important to the viewer; by probing for his feelings we learn about what's inside William and understand him better along with her. It is clear through her portrayal of the character that Robin loves him deeply and truly wants to get past his resistance to better understand William and his past. She acts as his conscience, letting him know that despite a really messed up childhood, he is okay, that he has risen above his past. When she listens to William as he finally opens up to her, she listens intently, she listens with her heart, and her face is full of love and compassion for this man.
Meredith portrays Robin as a good person and perfect partner: sweet, charming, happy, compassionate, loving, and smart. She has many wonderful scenes and lines, including an attempt to break through William's pain and tension, caused by his argument with his mother at her wedding, with a little humor. As he sits in the woods smoking she says, "You should have told me your mother's wedding was going to be hazardous to our health."
For Meredith fans, in addition to her splendid acting, she looks absolutely radiant throughout this film. She looks spectacular at the wedding at the beginning of the story. And - get this - Meredith gets to show her domestic skills as Robin by actually sewing at a sewing machine in one scene, which I think is really cute.