AllMovie

Academy Award-winning screenwriter and documentary filmmaker Dustin Lance Black takes the helm for this darkly comic drama about a small-town single mother whose affair with a married Mormon sheriff threatens to have dire repercussions. Virginia (Jennifer Connelly) is a devoted mother doing her best to raise her teenage son Emmett (Harrison Gilbertson) in a home with no male role model. She's also mistress to Sheriff Richard Tipton (Ed Harris), a Mormon family man eager to advance his career by running for public office. Sheriff Tipton knows that even the most minor scandal could sink his political ambitions, and when Virginia's troubled son begins dating his daughter (Emma Roberts) as well, it's only a matter of time before the affairs become the talk of their small town. Amy Madigan and Carrie Preston co-star.