The Odom family lives in a large, white, Southern house in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, just off Pitt Street, looking out onto Charleston Harbor. Lucille Odom (Erbe) is nearing the end of her last year of high school when her mother, Helen Odom (Clayburgh), leaves the family, breaking all ties. Lucille is left to care for her recently retired father, Warren Odom (Finney).