 When a Southern born New York writer tries to commit suicide, her "unemployed-football-coach" twin brother, Tom Wingo (Nick Nolte), comes to her aid. While tending to his sister Savannah s (Melinda Dillon) care he meets her psychiatrist, Dr. Susan Lowenstein (Barbra Streisand.) Dr. Lowenstein, desperate to unlock the door to her patient s self-destructive pattern, relies on Tom to be his sister s memory. What she doesn t realize is that the last thing Tom wants to do is remember. Haunted by a painful childhood and a domineering mother (Kate Nelligan), Tom discovers the only thing worse than not remembering is not telling.