In a charming Connecticut village, Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis) are in marriage counseling on Christmas Eve; the session doesn't go well and their problems become evident. Caroline has had an affair, and Lloyd is miserable and blames the problems with their 14-year-old son, Jesse (Robert J. Steinmiller Jr.), on his wife. The marriage counselor Dr. Wong (B.D. Wong), tries to get them to open up, but, behaving professionally, he refuses to intercede on either side.