In Her Shoes

Sisters Maggie and Rose Feller are very different, raised by their father Michael and their stepmother Sydelle, as their mother Caroline died in a car accident when they were young. Rose is an ostensibly plain and serious lawyer and, as the eldest, is protective of Maggie despite her flaws. A free spirit, Maggie cannot hold a steady job (partly due to her dyslexia) and turns to alcohol and men for emotional and financial support. After Sydelle throws Maggie out, Rose grudgingly allows her move in with her in her Rittenhouse Square apartment in Philadelphia. Maggie struggles to get work and soon causes her problems, including getting her car towed. Their already difficult relationship worsens when Rose catches her in bed with Jim, a workmate Rose had been seeing. Heartbroken and furious she throws Maggie out. A few days before, while looking through her father's desk for money, Maggie discovered a bundle of old birthday cards for her and Rose containing cash, from their "estranged" grandmother Ella. Homeless and without job prospects, she travels to Deerfield Beach, Florida, to find her. Believing Maggie is on vacation, Ella invites her to stay with her. Ella confides to her close friend Ethel that Caroline was mentally ill and prior to her death, wrote her a note asking she look after her daughters. As time passes, Ella realizes Maggie has visited only to sunbathe and steal money from her. After Maggie asks her to finance an acting career, Ella proposes to match her salary if she accepts a job with the assisted living section of the retirement community. Meanwhile, Rose quits her job to avoid the lawyer she had been seeing and becomes a dog-walker. She begins dating Simon Stein, a colleague from the law firm. They fall in love and get engaged. Maggie is befriended by a patient, a blind retired professor of English literature, who asks her to read poetry to him. Due to her dyslexia, Maggie struggles at first, but she improves with the professor's guidance and emotional support. Maggie also becomes friendly with other residents of the retirement community, and discovers some need a personal clothing shopper, an activity she has a knack for. Ella offers to run the financial aspects of the business, which quickly takes off, and she and Maggie become close. Meanwhile, Rose's reluctance to talk about Maggie is straining her relationships with Simon and her father. While Michael remains oblivious to his daughters' falling out, Simon tries to get Rose to talk about her. When he sees her confiding to Jim about her issues instead, Simon breaks off the engagement. Ella contacts Rose, sending her a plane ticket to visit. Rose confronts her father about hiding their grandmother from her and Maggie. He reluctantly explains Ella had not approved of Caroline having children because of her mental illness and tendency to neglect her medication, so had blamed him for her death. Rose is excited to meet her long-lost grandmother, but her pleasure quickly sours when she arrives and discovers Maggie already living there. While reminiscing with them, Maggie recounts the story of their mother taking them on a spontaneous trip to New York. They recognize the details of the story demonstrate Caroline was unwell, while Maggie is oblivious. Rose reveals that Michael and Caroline had a huge argument after the trip, and he had threatened to put her in a mental institution. Caroline killed herself two days later. Maggie realizes Rose had shielded her from the truth about their mother, and they reconcile. Simon arrives in Florida, summoned by Maggie, and he and Rose make up. At last, she opens up to him about Maggie and her desire to protect her, fearing Simon would come to hate Maggie. Later, Rose's wedding takes place at the Jamaican Jerk Hut in Philadelphia where they had their first date. Ella and Michael reconcile, and Maggie reads a poem as a wedding gift, which moves Rose to tears.

Plot from In Her Shoes (film)CC BY-SA 4.0