An Unfinished Affair (1996) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Sheila deliberately sought out Rick as part of her revenge plan against Alex. After Alex ended their affair, she discovered he had a son working at his father-in-law's art warehouse. By dating Rick, she could get close to Alex's family and punish him for abandoning her. She even admits to Alex at Thanksgiving that she found Rick on purpose.

Foreshadowing: Sheila's manipulation is hinted at when she tells Alex she 'found' Rick, implying deliberate intent.

• sheila
• rick
• revenge
• dating
• manipulation

Sheila photographed the silk screen with a Polaroid camera, then carefully taped the actual silk screen behind another painting in her apartment. When she later moved to a new place, she hung this same painting on the wall at the nursing home where her mother lived, hiding the stolen artwork behind it.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Alex warns Sheila that the painting must not surface because there will be legal repercussions, establishing why she must keep it hidden.

• silk screen
• painting
• hidden
• nursing home
• polaroid

Dwight Bennet, a blackmailer hired by Alex, broke into Sheila's apartment with a knife and demanded the silk screen. Sheila offered to pay him more money to leave her alone, but when he refused, she stabbed him in the back with a knife wrapped in a plastic bag. As he bled to death, she called 911 and claimed an intruder had a knife, then retrieved the Polaroid photos of the silk screen and fled.

Foreshadowing: Alex hired Dwight to steal the painting, establishing the confrontation that would follow.

• dwight
• break-in
• stabbing
• murder
• 911

After Sheila taunted Alex about her manipulation of Rick and threatened to expose his affair if he told the family, Alex retaliated by calling immigration to report her undocumented status. This led to Sheila learning she had one month before being deported to Canada.

Foreshadowing: Sheila had earlier revealed to Rick that she was Canadian without a green card, giving Alex the information he needed to use against her.

• immigration
• deportation
• canada
• report
• alex

During a family dirtbike outing, Cynthia fell off her bike and dangled from a branch over a cliff. Sheila had the opportunity to leave her there but chose to save her only when she saw Alex approaching. This moment reveals the depth of Sheila's calculation, she wanted Cynthia alive so Alex would continue living with the guilt of his affair, and also to maintain her place in the family longer for her revenge.

Foreshadowing: This scene demonstrates Sheila's controlled rage, as she maintains her facade while contemplating letting Alex's wife die.

• cynthia
• dirtbike
• cliff
• accident
• nearly died

Rick went looking for Sheila at the nursing home when she didn't answer his calls. He realized she was the one who had been hiding the silk screen painting, since he had seen the same painting at her apartment and now found it empty at the nursing home. He then confronted her in the parking lot with the painting he had retrieved.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Rick jokes about the poster of dogs playing Poker at the warehouse, establishing his familiarity with the art inventory.

• rick
• silk screen
• nursing home
• discovery
• painting

Sheila stole what she believed was the silk screen painting from Rick and boarded a plane to Vancouver. However, only after the plane was about to take off did she realize she had taken the poster of dogs playing Poker instead of the actual silk screen. The police stopped the plane and arrested her.

Foreshadowing: Rick had retrieved the painting from the nursing home and was holding it when he confronted Sheila, suggesting a switch occurred.

• airport
• arrest
• painting swap
• poker dogs
• vancouver

Sheila killed Dwight in self-defense after he attacked her with a knife and demanded the silk screen. When her offers of money didn't stop him, she stabbed him. However, she then orchestrated the scene to appear as though she was the victim, calling 911 to report an intruder with a knife.

Foreshadowing: Dwight was blackmailing both Alex and Sheila at different points, creating the conflict that led to his death.

• dwight
• self-defense
• stabbing
• murder
• frame

Alex's affair with Sheila began while his wife Cynthia was battling cancer. He was struggling with the emotional burden of her illness, and Sheila was one of his art students. The affair was brief, and Alex ended it when Cynthia's cancer went into remission. Sheila had expected Alex to marry her after Cynthia died from her illness.

Foreshadowing: The movie opens with Sheila inviting Alex to her apartment, reviving memories of their past affair.

• affair
• cynthia
• cancer
• student
• marriage

Rick once caught his fiancée having an affair with his roommate and beat the roommate so severely that Alex had to pay for the legal fallout when the roommate sued. This incident, along with Rick's history of violence, made him feel like the black sheep of the family. Alex helped him get the job at the art warehouse, but their relationship remained strained.

Foreshadowing: Rick explains this violent past to Sheila on their first date, showing why he opens up to her.

• rick
• alex
• father-son
• violence
• lawsuit

Clayton Edmunds was Alex's father-in-law and Rick's grandfather, who owned the art warehouse where both Alex and Rick worked. He kept a gun case in his home, from which Sheila stole a gun during the dirtbike trip. This gun was later used by Sheila in her final confrontation with Alex at the airport.

Foreshadowing: Sheila accesses Clayton's gun case while staying with the family, showing she was planning ahead.

• clayton
• art warehouse
• grandfather
• gun
• father-in-law