"When you begin seeing coincidences as life opportunities, every coincidence becomes meaningful," bestselling spiritual writer Deepak Chopra has observed. Say we meet just the right person at the right time. We have to have an open heart to realize this connection and benefit from it.
That is what happens to Alex (Alan Rickman), an Englishman who is traveling through Ontario to see a woman he knew many years ago. He has just been released from prison and is not in the mood to meet anyone new or to socialize. Vivienne (Emily Hampshire) approaches his table at an eatery and sits down with him. She is a gregarious young woman who wants to talk. After making clear his need for privacy, Alex agrees to give her a ride. On the outskirts of her hometown, Wawa, their car is hit by a truck. Vivienne dies instantly, and Alex survives with some minor scratches.
Against the advice of the police, Alex decides to track down Vivienne's mother and express his sadness over what has happened. Linda (Sigourney Weaver) lives alone and is autistic. She takes an immediate liking to Alex and invites him to stay with her through the funeral. Still in a state of shock, he can't muster the energy to say no. Linda lives in her own world of rituals and habitual activities. When the pattern is broken, she gets hysterical. Alex volunteers to take care of Vivienne's dog.
The Englishman meets Maggie (Carrie-Anne Moss), Linda's hedonistic neighbor who enjoys the company of men. She is frank about her sexual needs, and they begin a romantic relationship. This arouses the jealousy of officer Clyde (James Allodi) who does some research on Alex and discovers the reason why he was in prison. All of this input enables Alex to do some inner soul searching and to come to terms with his emotional fragility.
Director Marc Evans draws out commendable performances from Rickman, Weaver, and Moss. The psychologically rich screenplay by Angela Pell zeroes in on the wonderful ways in which the coincidences in Alex's life become spiritual teachers for him. Vivienne singles him out as a sad man in need of joy and tries to do what she can to revive him. Maggie brings his body back to life, and Linda, in her own childlike way, enables him to see the cathartic value of wonder and play. In one of the best scenes of the drama, Linda warms to him as a friend and teaches him her version of comic book Scrabble with made-up words.
