This is the story of an alcoholic man who returns home from prison only to find that his wife gave birth when he was in prison and gave their son up for adoption. Rip Porter (Barry Pepper) is an alcoholic with a violent temper who gets out of prison rehabilitated. He finds out that his son, he never knew he had, was put up for adoption when he was in prison and is bound to get him back.
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Rip went to prison when policemen showed up to his house for a domestic call. They come in and see that he hurt his wife, Wendy. When Rip gets out of prison his wife Wendy Porter (Mira Sorvino) comes and gets him and then takes him home. Rip is sober and has also participated in anger management classes when he was in prison. He wants to start a family with Wendy. She tells him she gave birth to their son when he was in prison and she gave him up for adoption to Jack and Molly Campbell who live in Florida. Rip is bound to get his son back and since he didn't sign the adoption papers this is quite easy to do. Even though Jack and Molly have given Rip and Wendy's son, Joey, a good life the court's and a congressman tell them they can't do anything because Rip has rights.
Jack Campbell tries every legal thing he can think of to keep Joey. After everything fails, Jack goes to Rip and tells him he will give him money if he signs over Joey. This just makes Rip mad and they get into a fight. Joey first meets with Rip and Wendy and everything goes well, while him and Rip work on a treehouse. The second visit results in Rip leaving a mark on Joey's arm because Joey wouldn't listen and mainly because Rip started drinking again.
Joey heads back to Florida to spend one more week with Jack and Molly before coming back to stay with Wendy and Rip forever. When Rip finds out that Wendy arranged for Joey to stay away for another week, he gets mad and hits Wendy. Joey gets back to Jack and Molly and tell them that Rip hurt him. Molly's sister wants them to go to a trip to Haiti with them. Molly tells her sister that everything is okay with taking Joey. Her sister doesn't quite believe it so she calls the congressman and realizes the truth. When getting to Haiti, Jack and Molly leave Haiti with Joey to a different country so they don't have to give Joey to Wendy and Rip. Molly's sister has already told the worker on Joey's case that they left and they get caught before they get to the airport.
Jack and Molly are brought back to the United States and have to see the case worker. The case worker tells Jack and Molly that Wendy has come to talk to them. Wendy tells them that although she wants to keep Joey, he is better off with them for now due to Rip's issues.
Best part of story, including ending:
I really liked this story because even though Wendy was the true biological mother, she gave up her rights to save her son Joey and protect him.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene was when Wendy told Jack and Molly that her and Rip had signed their rights over to them. This was a great scene because it showed that her motherly instincts were really to protect Joey no matter what.
Opinion about the main character:
I really liked that Rip Porter in the end signed over Joey even though he didn't want to. This means that he realized his problem and only wanted Joey to have a great home.
