| Director | Ang Lee |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, film based on a novel |
| Runtime | 112 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $18 million |
| Box office | $16 million |
In 1973, two families in an affluent Connecticut suburb experiment with adultery and substance abuse over one Thanksgiving weekend. One family, the Hoods, consists of parents Ben and Elena and their children, Paul and Wendy. Ben is dissatisfied with his marriage and his career.
The other family, Jim and Janey Carver and their sons, Mikey and Sandy, are the Hoods' neighbors and friends. Ben is having an affair with Janey to deal with his midlife dissatisfaction. His wife, Elena, is also bored with her life and looking to bring some excitement back, but is unsure how to do so. Young Wendy Hood enjoys sexual games with the Carver boys and with her school peers. Paul Hood has fallen for Libbets Casey, a classmate at the boarding school he attends, though his roommate Francis is also interested in her. Ben thinks Mikey Carver is odd and withdrawn, while Sandy, the younger one, experiments with dangerous objects like toy explosives.
When Janey does not show up for a tryst one day, Ben accuses her of losing interest in the affair. Janey reasons she can't put the tasks and errands of her own family on hold for him. On the Friday night after Thanksgiving, the Hoods have an argument when Elena realizes her husband is having an affair with Janey. Despite the tension between them, the couple goes ahead with plans to attend a neighborhood party. Jim and Janey Carver also attend. It turns out to be a "key party", in which married couples swap sexual partners through each woman selecting from a bowl a set of car keys contributed by each man.
Ben drinks increasingly as the party progresses. When Janey chooses the keys of a younger man, a drunken Ben becomes agitated and trips on the floor. After being helped up, he retreats to the bathroom to sober up, remaining there for the rest of the evening. Meanwhile, a winter storm begins to descend upon the neighborhood.
The other key party participants pair off and leave until only Jim and Elena remain. She retrieves Jim's keys from the bowl and returns them to him. After debating the issue, Jim and Elena leave together, engaging in a quick, clumsy sexual encounter in the front seat of Jim's car. Jim, regretting the line they just crossed, offers to drive Elena home.
Wendy makes her way to the Carvers' to see Mikey, but he has ventured out into the ice storm. She finds Sandy, who has a crush on her, alone at home. She asks Sandy to climb into bed with her, and they remove their clothing. They drink from a bottle of vodka, and after Sandy proclaims his love for Wendy, they fall asleep together.
Paul is invited to Libbets's Manhattan apartment, but upon arriving, he is disappointed to learn that Francis was also invited. Throughout the night, the trio drinks beer and listens to music. Francis and Libbets also take prescription pills found in Libbets's mother's medicine cabinet. Paul confesses his feelings for Libbets, and in her stupor, she tells Paul she thinks of him as a brother. Paul leaves Libbets and Francis passed out in the apartment and just barely makes the train back to New Canaan.
Meanwhile, Mikey, out walking in the storm, is enchanted by the beauty of the trees and fields covered in ice. He slides down an icy hill and sits on a guardrail. A moment later, a falling tree takes down a power line, which connects with the guardrail, fatally electrocuting him.
Jim and Elena also get stuck due to fallen trees and return to the Carvers' house as dawn breaks. Elena walks in on her daughter in bed with Sandy and tells Wendy to get dressed. Janey has also returned home but is curled up in bed in the fetal position, still wearing her party dress.
A sober Ben is driving back to his house when he discovers Mikey's body on the side of the road. He carries the body to the Carvers' house, and the two families are drawn together in grief. Wendy hugs the shocked and numbed Sandy in an attempt to comfort him. Jim is devastated, while Janey remains asleep, not yet knowing the news. Ben, Elena, and Wendy later drive to New Canaan station to pick up Paul, whose train was delayed by the power outage. Once all four are together in the car, Ben breaks down and sobs uncontrollably at the wheel as Elena comforts him, and the kids look on.