The Big C

Cathy Jamison (Laura Linney), a high school teacher in Minneapolis, is diagnosed with melanoma. She withholds the diagnosis from her husband Paul (Oliver Platt), homeless brother Sean (John Benjamin Hickey), and son Adam (Gabriel Basso). This news, coinciding with the beginning of summer, inspires Cathy to get a pool built in her backyard. Her cranky neighbor Marlene (Phyllis Somerville) opposes the project but ultimately begins to bond with Cathy and becomes the first person to learn about her cancer. Cathy also begins exhibiting increasingly odd behavior in reaction to her cancer, such as emptying out her retirement fund and burning the couch she's always hated. Meanwhile, Paul and Cathy remain separated over an incident that occurred prior to the start of the series. Cathy begins an extramarital affair with a painter at the high school (Idris Elba). Paul witnesses the two of them together and asks for a divorce; Cathy, in turn, ends the tryst and informs Paul that she has cancer. Paul begins to understand what Cathy's been going through, moves back in and pledges to assist her with her disease. Marlene, who has been succumbing to Alzheimer's, dies by suicide after inadvertently putting Adam in harm's way. Her death inspires Cathy to begin seeking treatment, something she was initially opposed to. In the fall, Cathy begins a clinical trial run by the highly renowned Dr. Atticus Sherman (Alan Alda). By this point, Cathy's friends and family are all aware of her diagnosis and provide her with support; financially, however, the Jamisons are struggling to foot the bill for Cathy's treatment. After Paul is fired from his job, he accepts a demeaning position at an electronics store solely for the insurance benefits. Meanwhile, Cathy befriends Lee (Hugh Dancy), a fellow patient in Dr. Sherman's trial. The two become close over their shared experience and Lee becomes a close friend of the Jamisons. Cathy begins experiencing symptoms of the drugs in the clinical trial, a sign that the treatment is working; Lee does not fare as well and announces that he plans on quitting treatment altogether. Lee dies shortly after and Cathy plans on running the Minneapolis New Year's Eve marathon in his honor. Meanwhile, the stress of providing for the family leads Paul to become increasingly reliant on cocaine. With insurance bills mounting, Paul crashes the agency's holiday party and has a heart attack. Although he is pronounced dead for several minutes, he ultimately survives. One month later, Paul is recovering from his heart attack and begins chronicling his near-death experience in a blog. Cathy's tumors have shrunk immensely as a result of the clinical trial and she enters remission. Seeking direction in the wake of their new leases on life, Cathy and Paul attend a retreat by a self-help guru named Joy Kleinman (Susan Sarandon). Cathy, although initially resistant to Joy's teachings, comes to the realization that she wants another child. Joy sees potential in Paul's blog and invites him to join her on stage; Paul subsequently becomes a popular speaker. Meanwhile, Cathy and Paul speak to a couple regarding the possibility of the Jamisons adopting their yet-born child. This is ultimately a scam and becomes a point of contention between Cathy, who really wanted the child, and Paul, who is more concerned with his newfound popularity. Suspecting that Joy is having an affair with Paul, Cathy confronts her but Joy is hit by a bus in a freak accident. Paul replaces Joy at a speaking engagement in Puerto Rico over Easter and becomes the successor to her self-help empire. Cathy is informed that her tumors are growing and that she will probably die within a year. While scuba diving in Puerto Rico, Cathy experiences a vivid hallucination caused by the growing tumors and requires brain surgery. Cathy spends the next several months undergoing chemotherapy but quits when she realizes that it is ultimately pointless. Her relationship with Paul is cordial although she suspects that he's waiting for her to die to move on; Cathy in turn encourages him to begin dating other women so she can approve of who he may remarry. Per the advice of a counselor, Cathy sets a goal that she wants to see Adam graduate high school before she dies, although this appears unlikely considering he's only starting junior year. When Cathy begins experiencing memory loss, she goes to live in hospice. This upsets the whole family and Paul and Adam fall apart in her absence. The following spring, Cathy's four months of insurance coverage expires and she returns home, albeit bedridden. Adam, fulfilling one of Cathy's wishes, reveals that he's secretly taken an entire year's worth of school online and has received his high school diploma. Paul, having gone out to buy Cathy's flowers, returns home to find that she's dead. In the very last scene, Cathy is seen in a serene swimming pool with Marlene and Thomas, Marlene's dog.

Plot from The Big C (TV series)CC BY-SA 4.0