This was a very enjoyable mini-series on HBO with an absolutely stellar cast, good directing and an enjoyable story. A very good drama about a man finally taking control of his life, but only after losing his wife, and having his daughter go through a columbine like series of killings at her school by a student that liked her. Ed Harris, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Newman are just a small part of this stellar cast.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Ed Harris plays Miles Roby a man living in a small New England Mill Town where the mill has closed, and the town has heavily suffered. Mile’s wife Janine (Helen Hunt) has left him for the local health club owner Walt Comeau (Dennis Farina) who comes into the restaurant Miles manages every day to prove there are no hard feelings, and has lied to Janine not only about his money, but also about his age (he is 60 not 50), but they are engaged to be married, as Miles never really loved his wife, though he does love his daughter Tick (Danielle Panabaker), but he can’t even have her live with him because Janine and Walt live in his house. The local cop Jimmy Minty (William Fichtner) has a grudge against miles, and follows him around, and even threatens him, hating this college boy, and the fact that his daughter broke up with his football playing son. Miles also has to deal with his grubby father Max (Paul Newman) who wants him to pay him to help paint the church, though Miles is doing it for free, so that Max can head down to the Florida Keys where he used to go and leave Miles mother.

The town is run and mostly owned by Francine Whiting (joanne Woodward) whose family owned the Mill, and whose crippled daughter Cindy (Kate Burton) has always loved Miles. Francine was married to C.B. Whiting, he sometimes called himself Charlie Mayne when he fell in love with Miles mother Grace (Robin Wright Penn) while Max was away in the Keys. Of course the affair was learned about and Max was sent by his family down to Mexico for 10 years. He eventually returned and killed himself, but we later learn he was returning to kill his wife, but saw his daughter who was then taken care of by Grace (who later cared for Grace while she died of cancer) and instead walked outside and killed himself. And it was Francine who convinced Miles to never leave the town, and stay with his mother, who only wanted him to escape from Francine’s clutches. Francine made Miles the manager of a local restaurant that is doing very well thanks to his brother’s cooking (his brother is David, played by Aidan Quinn, who is having a fling with the waitress Charlene played by Theresa Russell who Miles has always liked).

Max and a crazy old priest break into the church safe and steal money and head to the keys, and Miles finally decides to break from Francine and open up Bea (Janine’s mom played by Estelle Parsons)’s bar into a restaurant, but they are stopped at every turn because Francine owns the town.

After Janine and Walt are married, a student at school who Tick has befriended who was supposed to be living with his grandmother, but in fact she died, and he has been living alone in an empty house with no power. He disappears and returns to the school with a gun in hand and kills as many as he can. Tick cuts his face, and as he is about to kill her a teacher jumps in the way and takes the bullet. Tick is flipping out, so Miles takes her up to cape cod to calm down, and works their until she is OK with what happened, and Max comes back to get them, and they head back to the town. Just before leaving Miles had confronted Francine and been attacked by the cop Jimmy who was working for her, when she was at the old Mill.

It turns out that Francine was killed in a storm that swept away her and her cat (that always attacked Miles) and the gazebo they were in, and the Mill was sold to stores, and the town exploded into expensive property.

What an amazing cast, and great performances. This was a really enjoyable film. Now if only HBO can come up with some new great series to replace everything they are losing so soon!