Suzy Amis

An Irish bomber targets an old foe in Boston. Jimmy Dove works for the bomb squad in Boston and he is always the one who is on the tough jobs. One day he decides to quit the force and to become a teacher for the rookies of the squad. A few days later his former partner is killed by a bomb and Jimmy becomes suspicious that maybe this bomb could have been built by a former friend of himself. He begins to investigate and finds out that his worst nightmare has returned from his past. —Harald Mayr <marvin@bike.augusta.de> There's a serial bomber loose in Boston, and he has killed Blanket, a member of Boston's bomb squad and the best friend of explosives expert Jimmy Dove. Dove has just retired from the bomb squad to marry a violinist named Kate, who has an 11-year-old daughter named Elizabeth. Haunted by grisly flashbacks, Dove soon figures out the identity of the bomber -- Irish explosives expert Ryan Gaerity, a man who is so radical in his views that even the IRA wants nothing to do with him. Gaerity has escaped from the maximum security Castle Gleigh prison in Ireland, using a bomb made from ingredients that include blood, wool, and a porcelain toilet. Gaerity has fled to Boston, where he saw Dove, who had just disarmed a bomb planted in a MIT computer lab, painted as a reluctant hero on TV. Gaerity was furious: it's because of Dove that he's spent years in prison. Dove was born Liam McGivney, and he used to be a naive Irish patriot. Gaerity recruited him and taught him to build bombs, and Gaerity conceived a terrorist plan that went terribly wrong. Liam helped Gaerity build a bomb, then he realized that Gaerity intended to detonate it on a crowded street. Liam tried to stop Gaerity from detonating the bomb, but bomb device went off, killing a lot of people, including Gaerity's sister. Liam escaped from Ireland and made his way to America, where he changed his name to Jimmy Dove. Gaerity was arrested, tried, and imprisoned until his escape. Gaerity, who has now taken up residence in an abandoned gambling ship called the Dolphin, has decided to get revenge on Dove, and Gaerity started terrorizing the bomb squad by killing Blanket. Now, Dove is the only one who can stop Gaerity. —Todd Baldridge

Delusional and spoiled Maureen and her eccentric brother Howdy decide to track down and meet their estranged mother, all while the drama of dysfunctional relationships, disastrous weather conditions and a dark family secret ensue. An oddball family on a Kansas farm are trapped in their farmhouse by an impending storm. The patriarch of the clan is a retired soda pop tycoon. He is currently dating a children's TV evangelist. Also living at the farm is his layabout daughter and her precocious 8 year old daughter, his would-be artist son, the son's fiancée, and the black maid. Also thrown into the mix is the daughter's ex-husband, a ne-er-do-well who is seeking to get back in his ex-wife's good graces. —John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>

An aging patriarch unites all of his family members for his birthday, but the familial assemblage is teeming with personal and social problems. A man's family reunites for his 77th birthday. He loves all of his children and grandchildren; he doesn't exactly connect with his children, but he connects with his grandchildren much better. When he tells them what he really wants for his birthday, they do what they can to grant his wish. —rcs0411@yahoo.com