Plot: In the coastal town of Little Hope, New Hampshire following the murder of Larry Maretto, family, friends and acquaintances of Larry and his wife, Suzanne Maretto (who goes professionally by her maiden name Suzanne Stone), are interviewed by the media about the Marettos and their marriage. Despite both Larry and Suzanne being attractive, the reason for their want to be husband and wife were not obvious to anyone else that knew them. Slightly dim and superficial but driven WASP Suzanne sees herself as the next Jane Pauley, being famous generally her goal in life. Blue collar and ethnic Italian Larry, who worked in the family restaurant, wanted Suzanne first and foremost to be a wife and mother, although he did support whatever she did to further her career. These interviews are in large part done because of the official and unofficial belief that Suzanne may have orchestrated Larry's murder. Larry's sister, figure skater Janice Maretto, does know deep in her heart that Suzanne is involved. Another person interviewed is Ed Grant, Suzanne's boss at a small second rate cable station. Although Ed only hired her to be a Girl Friday, a job he initially envisioned being filled by an unskilled teenager, she beat him down so much with her proposals to make herself an on-air personality that he eventually gave her a job as the station's on-air weather girl, which she morphed unilaterally into making her own documentaries. Others interviewed are Jimmy Emmett and Lydia Mertz, two of the subjects in Suzanne's documentary on teenagers. Jimmy and Lydia were delinquent and unfocused before meeting Suzanne, into whose life of fame and romance they easily got sucked. The primary question is if Larry's murderer(s) will be caught and if justice, especially in the eyes of those who truly care about Larry, most specifically his family, will be served.
Alternative Plot: Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) is a weather reporter at her small-town cable station, but she dreams of being a big-time news anchor. However, she feels that her middle-class husband (Matt Dillon) is holding her back, so she decides to have him murdered. For this, she enlists Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix), a high school boy who is enamored with her. The plan doesn't work exactly as she intended, though, and her husband's family starts to suspect that she was involved in his death.
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