Oren Little (Douglas), a realtor by trade, develops self-absorption, turning his back on his neighbors and shunning the notion of kindness to others, after his wife dies; part of his self-absorption is having no patience for children, not even his own now-adult son, from whom he has been estranged. He has a next-door neighbor, Leah (Keaton), whose own husband has likewise died, never having had any children of her own, which leads her to throw her soul and her tears into reviving a singing career that had stagnated.