Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup), raised in a working-class family, attends Harvard and then joins the Coast Guard. He wants to be a politician. In 1972 this serious young man meets and falls in love with Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), a radical activist involved with Chilean refugees. She tells him: "I want a life of unbelievable adventure and profligacy and at the last possible moment — sainthood. I want a life that makes sense." These two are united in their desire to make the world a better place but in total disagreement on how to bring about political change. Before they can work that out together, Sarah is killed in a politically motivated car bombing.
Eight years later, Fielding is a Chicago county attorney running for a congressional seat. His girlfriend, Juliet (Molly Parker), is the daughter of his powerful political mentor, Isaac Green (Hal Holbrook). Poised to fulfill all of his dreams, Fielding is unhinged by memories and visions of Sarah. Even with the moral support and concern of his father (Stanley Anderson) and his sister (Janet McTeer), he can't focus on the mission at hand.
Keith Gordon directs this romantic drama based on Scott Spencer's 1986 novel. His previous three films were also based on novels: The Chocolate War, A Midnight Clear, and Mother Night. Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly were excellent in their earlier work together in Inventing the Abbots. Here they are convincing soul mates who yearn for a more just society. Waking the Dead stirs the heart and stretches the soul with its unique blend of love and politics.