Plot: Now in the twilight of her life, Hagar Shipley née Currie currently lives with her eldest son Marvin Shipley and daughter-in-law Doris Shipley, who want, against her wishes, to place her in a nursing home. Rather than go along with their wishes, Hagar decides to go on a journey, both literally and figuratively. She runs away to her old hometown of Manawaka, Manitoba, specifically to the now abandoned and dilapidated farmhouse where she lived with her husband, Bram Shipley and their two children. Along the way, she reminisces about her less than conventional and less than trouble-free life. That trouble basically stemmed from her relationships to those in her family: her father, Jason Currie, who disowned her when she got married to Bram; Bram, who had a different outlook on what was important in life, despite the two being compatible sexually; Marvin, who she saw as an extension of his father, and thus was often the neglected child; and younger son John Shipley, who she doted upon as having the "Currie" temperament within the family but who rebelled against her in his early adulthood. In her return to Manawaka, Hagar meets a drifter named Leo, who, in reminding her of John, makes her examine her past decisions more closely.
Alternative Plot: Hagar (Ellen Burstyn) may be 90 years old, but that doesn't mean she's ready to move into a retirement home as her son, Marvin (Dylan Baker), and his wife want her to do. Determined to keep her freedom, Hagar sets out to find her childhood home, which is now falling apart. Hiding from her family, she begins to confuse the present with the past. She recalls her doomed marriage to a poor farmer, which caused her wealthy father to disinherit her -- and reflects on a secret she's never shared.
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