David Thornton

A snooty socialite is stranded on a Mediterranean island with a communist sailor. Amber is 40, beautiful, rich, spoiled, and arrogant beyond measure. Nothing makes this woman happy, including her wealthy but passive husband Tony, a pharmaceutical kingpin. When he takes her on a private cruise from Greece to Italy, she is unimpressed at this impromptu no-frills vacation, and takes out her anger on the ship's first mate, Giuseppe. When a storm leaves the two shipwrecked on a deserted island, however, the tables suddenly turn. —Anonymous

The film begins somewhere in Canada where a young woman is driving dangerously into oncoming traffic, as she attempts to pass a semi she is clipped by another semi, which causes her to spin and stalls, then right into the path of the first semi that slams into the side of her car killing her instantly. A few weeks earlier in Chicago, Illinois, John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) and his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) are getting behind with their payments. One day after witnessing their young son Michael (Daniel E. Smith) collapse at his baseball game. After a series of tests at the hospital, John is informed by Dr. Raymond Turner (James Woods) and Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche), a hospital administrator, that Michael has an enlarged heart and will need a transplant. Because the company he works for dropped John from full-time to part-time, his health insurance has been changed, and the new policy does not cover the surgery, leaving them to raise $250,000 to get their son's name on the donor list. The family tries to raise the money (they sell everything of value they have and even try and approach TV show hosts to run special interest pieces for the family) but are only able to come up with a third of the necessary payment. The hospital uses the money to clear their current dues and demands the full $250K for the transplant procedure. The hospital tires of waiting and releases Michael; Denise shouts at John to do something, or else Michael dies. Unwilling to let his child die, John walks into the hospital ER with a handgun, gathers hostages, and sets demands: his son's name on the recipient list as soon as possible. The hostage negotiator, Lt. Frank Grimes (Robert Duvall), stands down to let John cool off. Meanwhile, John and the eleven hostages learn more about each other. They begin to understand John's situation and support him a little as he ensures each of them receives the treatment they came to the emergency room for. One of them, Miriam (Troy Byer as Troy Beyer), is pregnant, and her husband Steve (Troy Winbush) is hoping that their first child is healthy. A young hostage, Julie (Heather Wahlquist), has a broken arm, and she and her boyfriend Mitch (Shawn Hatosy) claim that a car crash caused it. Due to holes in their story, John and another hostage, Lester (Eddie Griffin), conclude that the two are lying and that Mitch beat up Julie. After a while, John agrees to release some hostages to have his son's name added to the list an hour afterward. He releases Steve, Miriam, and a hostage named Rosa (Martha Chaves) with her baby. Meanwhile, Frank and Rebeca talk to Denise and tell her that the hospital is putting Michael on the list of donors and will cover all expenses. Frank knows this is a lie and that the plan is to use Denise to misguide John into thinking that Michael is on the list when he is not. The Chicago Chief of Police, Gus Monroe (Ray Liotta) is a sadistic s.o.b. and doesn't agree with Frank's tactics (he wants to bring down the hostage taker ASAP for the TV audiences and his own personal ratings with the Mayor's office), gives a SWAT unit permission to insert a sniper into the building via an air shaft. John is shot while he is distracted talking to Denise, but he ends up receiving only a minor wound, which is treated right away. After taking the shot, the sniper's leg falls through the ceiling tiles. Outraged, John pulls him out of the air shaft and beats him up. Meanwhile, Rebecca is moved listening to John's conversation with his son and decides to put him on the list right away, which nobody else knows. Using the bound SWAT policeman as a human shield, he steps outside to the sight of dozens of policemen pointing weapons at him and a large, supportive crowd. John demands that his son be brought to the emergency room. The police agree to his demand in exchange for the SWAT sniper. Once his son arrives, John reveals to the hostages his intention to commit suicide so his heart can be used to save his son. He persuades Dr. Turner to perform the operation, and two of his hostages bear witness to a will stating his last request. John says his last goodbyes to Michael and enters the operating room. He loads a single bullet into the gun and pulls the trigger, but the safety is on. As he prepares to end his life a second time, his wife learns that an organ donor, the woman who died in a car accident, has been flown to the hospital for organ recovery. She runs to the emergency room and stops John from shooting himself, and John allows the hostages to go free. Michael is given the life-saving operation, and after watching the procedure with Denise, John is taken into police custody after the operation is a success. John became a nationwide hit. Three months later, at his trial, all of the witnesses speak on his behalf. He is later acquitted of charges of attempted murder and armed criminal action but is found guilty of kidnapping. It is never revealed what his sentence for the crime will be, but his lawyer is overheard saying that no judge will give him "more than three to five (years)" and that she will try to get it reduced to two.

Helen and Jackson live together in New York City. At the beginning of the film, the two are driving towards the Kentucky farmhouse, Kilronan, where Jackson grew up, primarily to introduce Helen to Jackson's mother, Martha (Lange). After returning to New York, Helen discovers she is pregnant. When she informs Jackson of this, he asks her to marry him and she accepts. The wedding is held at Kilronan, where Helen meets Jackson's paternal grandmother, Alice, who tells Helen she doesn't trust Martha. After returning to New York apartment, Helen is assaulted by a man who steals her locket. When Helen says she's pregnant, he cuts her abdomen and leaves. The fetus was not injured. Martha arrives and says she wants to sell Kilronan because she cannot run it alone. Helen tells Jackson she wants to move to Kentucky and in with Martha for a year and help renovate the land. Jackson tells Helen his father died in that house when he was seven and he blames himself because he ran into his father pushing him down the stairs. Jackson also tells Helen that his father had been cheating on Martha with Robin Hayes. Helen says they should go back so Jackson can face his "old ghosts". The couple move in with Martha who attempts to divide the couple. Suspicious, Helen talks to Alice who tells her that Jackson is wrong about his father's death. The father landed on a nail puller at the bottom of the stairs, crushing his sternum, which, according to news reports was a freak accident. Helen tells Jackson that Martha is tearing their marriage apart. He agrees to go back to New York and tells his mother. That evening, Martha bakes a cake for Helen laced with pitocin, a labor inducer. Helen wakes up the next morning, feeling strange. She discovers a baby room set up by Martha and finds the locket that was stolen from her in New York. When Martha unexpectedly enters the room, Helen tries unsuccessfully to escape. Reluctantly, with Martha's assistance, Helen gives birth. Martha leaves the room to answer a phone call from Jackson. She tells him that everything is okay, but when Helen screams in pain, Martha hangs up. Helen begs Martha to hand her the baby, but Martha ignores her, telling the baby she is his mother. Martha tries to inject morphine in Helen's arm, but Helen knocks the syringe away. When Martha retrieves it, she hears Jackson's footsteps. In a scramble, she quickly cleans up, meeting Jackson at the door. She tells him to leave Helen alone, as he has no idea what she's been through. The two leave Helen asleep, with Martha giving the baby to Jackson. That night, Martha enters Helen's bedroom with the syringe. She finds Jackson in a chair next to the bed. Despite his mother's insistence that he return to bed, he stays. The next morning, Helen awakens to see Jackson. She tells Jackson to ask Martha to make breakfast. At breakfast, Helen enters the house with an object in her bag. Helen says that it is the object that killed Jackson's father. She slowly proceeds to tell Jackson the whole truth about his father's murder. She reveals that Robin Hayes, the "woman" Jackson believed his father had cheated on his mother with, was actually a male horse wrangler, with whom Martha had an affair. Helen also shows Jackson a bruise resulting from when his mother tried to murder her so she can have him and their son to herself. Jackson's father was planning to leave Martha when he discovered the affair but Martha ended up killing him. Martha made Jackson think he did so she can bind him to her for the rest of his life. Jackson tells Martha that he never wants to see her again. Martha claims that Helen is only doing this because she is jealous of her. In utter disgust, Helen slaps Martha to the ground. Helen and Jackson then leave with their baby while Martha sobs on the floor. In the final scene, the couple visit Alice before they leave for good, presenting her with her great-grandson.

Two NYC roommates have a pact to jump off Brooklyn Bridge if they haven't found life partners before she's 30. That's less than a month away. Joe and Lucy are roommates and best friends. Lucy, whose love life is embarrassingly dull, convinces Joe, who is infatuated with a neighbor he's never met, that if they don't have stable romances within a month, they must jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. —Bob Amaden <rumpus@minn.net>