Description:
Andy (Bill Pullman) and Tracy Safian (Nicole Kidman) are a happily married couple living in a Victorian house that they are restoring in the Boston suburbs. He is the Associate Dean at the local college, while his wife teaches art to children. When a student is attacked in her home by what appears to be a serial rapist, her life is saved by Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin), a brilliant surgeon who has recently arrived at the area hospital. Andy recognizes Jed from their high school days and invites him to rent the third floor of their home in order to finance the new plumbing. With his propensity to bring home sexual partners and to
Andy (Bill Pullman) and Tracy Safian (Nicole Kidman) are a happily married couple living in a Victorian house that they are restoring in the Boston suburbs. He is the Associate Dean at the local college, while his wife teaches art to children. When a student is attacked in her home by what appears to be a serial rapist, her life is saved by Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin), a brilliant surgeon who has recently arrived at the area hospital. Andy recognizes Jed from their high school days and invites him to rent the third floor of their home in order to finance the new plumbing. With his propensity to bring home sexual partners and to party late into the night, he quickly proves himself to be a less-than-ideal tenant.
When student Paula Bell (Gwyneth Paltrow) is attacked and killed, Andy finds her body in the garden behind her home, prompting detective Dana Harris (Bebe Neuwirth) to view him as a possible suspect. While at the police station delivering a semen sample, Andy learns his wife has been hospitalized and is being operated on by Jed. In removing one of Tracy's ovaries, which has ruptured due to a cyst, Jed discovers Tracy is pregnant, but the stress of the procedure causes the fetus to abort. Near the end of the surgery, another doctor notices that her other ovary is torsed and appears necrotic. Jed talks to Andy, who has been in the waiting room, and advises him to agree to the removal of Tracy's second ovary, rather than risk Tracy's life; Andy painfully agrees, since this will mean that Tracy can never have children. Back in surgery, Jed overrules the protests of the other doctors that the ovary might still be healthy and removes it. When Jed later is told the second ovary was in fact healthy, he decides that, rather than bury the report, he will face the consequences of his actions.
At a deposition, Jed's attorney Lester Adams (Josef Sommer) learns his client had been drinking prior to the surgery. His case is not helped when Jed, during his testimony, responds to the accusation that he has a God complex by declaring that as far as medicine is concerned, he is God. His insurance company settles with Tracy for $20 million, and she leaves Andy, whom she blames for the loss of her ability to ever have children.
Andy accidentally discovers that the serial rapist is Earl Leemus (Tobin Bell), the college handyman, and apprehends him. After Andy tells Dana that Tracy had been pregnant before the surgery, she tells him that his semen sample indicated he is sterile and couldn't have fathered Tracy's child. Andy confronts Tracy's lawyer, Dennis Riley (Peter Gallagher), and accuses him of having impregnated Tracy and colluded with her. Riley denies everything and reveals that Tracy’s mother, whom Andy had been told was dead, might be able to offer him some insight.
Mrs. Kennsinger (Anne Bancroft) tells Andy the truth about her supposedly sweet daughter: Tracy is a con artist.She had a relationship with a wealthy man who paid her to have an abortion, but Tracy kept the money and had it done illegally. Her mother also confirms Andy's suspicion that Tracy was pregnant by a Dr. David Lilianfield, who ultimately proves to be Jed, and Andy tracks them to a house where the two are living together.
Back at home, Andy discovers a hypodermic needle containing the fertility drug Perganol. He learns that an excess amount of the drug can cause painful ovarian cysts, and he realizes Tracy deliberately created her illness with Jed's help. An angry Andy confronts Tracy and tells her he wants half the money from the settlement. He also tells her that if he should meet with an unexpected death, a letter will immediately be sent to the police department, directing them to interview the young boy next door. He implies that the boy, whom they never met but whom they frequently saw sitting at his bedroom window, was a witness to Jed injecting Tracy with Perganol.
Tracy tells Jed about Andy's demands, and he tells her to give him what he wants. She refuses and says that she earned that money and that there was no way she was splitting it three ways. Tracy tells Jed that they have to get rid of the witness because that is the only bargaining chip that Andy has on them. He refuses and slaps her for suggesting murdering the boy. She attempts to pressure him into it by reminding him of his removing her ovaries. Jed attempts to walk away, but Tracy pulls a gun and shoots him.
That night, Tracy waits until the nurse next door leaves, lures Andy away from his house with a misleading phone call, then breaks in and tries to smother the boy. When she wraps some cellophane around his face from behind, she realizes that it's a dummy and she has been set up. Andy surprises her, and they fight until Detective Harris, who was disguised as the nurse, returns and arrests Tracy. As Tracy is led away, she sees the boy and his mother return. It is revealed that the boy is, in fact, blind.
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Release date: 1 October 1993
UPC: 780063364522
Tags: Thriller (8), Mystery (5), Crime (4), 1990s (3), 90s (2), 1993 (2), Twist (2), Drama (1), Suspense (1), Hospital (1), Doctor (1), New Line Cinema (1), Columbia Pictures (1), (1)
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