AllMovie

A 1960s-era teenager discovers that the adult world is neither what she hoped nor what she expected it would be after sparking her mother's tempestuous departure and subsequently being forced to step up and take care of her father and brothers. Elise's father is a respected doctor, and her mother an unsatisfied career woman and part-time journalist. It's been some time since Elise and her mother shared a kind word, so when the frustrated girl is disciplined, she resorts to meddling as a means of lashing out. That meddling proves the breaking point in the relationship between daughter and mother, prompting the mother's hasty and stormy departure from the family. The result of her absence is no less than devastating to the family, and life-altering for Elise, who must now sacrifice her youth in her struggle to keep the family together in their darkest hour.