Big Business (1988) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

In the late 1940s, Binky Shelton went into labor at Jupiter Hollow's hospital, which served only Hollowmade Furniture employees. At the same moment, local hillbilly Iona Ratliff also gave birth to identical twin girls. An elderly, near-sighted nurse mistakenly swapped the newborns during the chaos, giving each family the wrong set of twins.

Foreshadowing: The hospital's sole purpose for Hollowmade employees creates the rare circumstance where both families would be at the same facility simultaneously.

• baby switch
• nurse
• Jupiter Hollow hospital
• twins swapped
• hospital mix-up

Rose Ratliff worked as the forewoman at Hollowmade Furniture, the company her family had worked at for generations. When she learned that Moramax co-owner Sadie Shelton planned to liquidate Hollowmade, she wrote to the board of directors to protest the stockholder meeting in New York City, signing it only with the letter 'R' to maintain her identity.

Foreshadowing: This letter triggers Graham Sherbourne's mission to find the Ratliffs and prevent any disruption to the sale.

• protest letter
• Hollowmade sale
• Rose Ratliff
• stockholder meeting
• factory closure

Sadie Shelton was the ruthless co-owner of Moramax, the corporation that had absorbed her father's original company. She proposed liquidating Hollowmade as a business strategy to profit from the sale, assuming the townspeople of Jupiter Hollow supported the decision. She confidently told the board that the residents were on board, though this was a misrepresentation.

Foreshadowing: Sadie's ruthless business demeanor is established early as she treats employees and her son Jason with contempt.

• Sadie Shelton
• Moramax
• liquidation
• Hollowmade sale
• business merger

The four women, Sadie Shelton, Rose Shelton, Sadie Ratliff, and Rose Ratliff, finally met in the Plaza Hotel lobby restroom. There, they confronted each other and realized they had been separated as newborns. The two red-haired sisters belonged to the Shelton family, while the two brunette sisters came from the Ratliff lineage.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the film, the two pairs of sisters each display contrasting personalities that hint at their separate upbringings.

• sisters reunited
• switched at birth
• identical twins
• Plaza Hotel
• family revelation

When the Ratliff sisters arrived at JFK Airport, they were supposed to be picked up by a limousine sent by Graham Sherbourne. However, Italian buyer Fabio Alberici mistakenly boarded the same vehicle, and the Ratliffs assumed he was their ride. The mix-up whisks them to the Plaza Hotel, where they enjoy the opulence while the actual Sheltons struggle to pay for a subway ride.

Foreshadowing: The constant chain of coincidences and mistaken identities drives the film's farcical pacing.

• limousine mix-up
• JFK Airport
• Plaza Hotel
• mistaken identity
• Fabio Alberici

Dr. Jay Marshall went to the Plaza Hotel to propose to Rose Shelton, whom he had been dating. However, he encountered Rose Ratliff in the hotel, who mistook him for someone named 'Sly' delivering bribe money. When he tried to propose, she thought the engagement ring was an additional bribe and brushed it aside, though she was flattered by the attention.

Foreshadowing: Jay's commitment-shy nature with Rose Shelton has been established earlier, making his earnest proposal attempt significant.

• Jay Marshall
• proposal
• Rose Ratliff
• mistaken identity
• Plaza Hotel

Roone Dimmick was Rose Ratliff's longtime boyfriend in Jupiter Hollow, an enthusiastic miniature golfer. When he learned that Rose had gone to New York City without telling him, he became heartbroken and took a bus to the city to win her back. Upon arriving at the Plaza, he mistakenly embraced Rose Shelton, thinking she was his girlfriend.

Foreshadowing: Roone's arrival adds another layer of mistaken identity that ultimately leads him to Rose Shelton.

• Roone Dimmick
• miniature golf
• Jupiter Hollow
• Rose Ratliff
• New York trip

During the stockholder meeting, Sadie Ratliff initially impersonated her New York counterpart and attempted to sway the vote. When her confidence faltered, Rose Shelton stepped in and delivered a compelling speech that convinced the stockholders to cancel the sale. The factory remained operational, preserving Jupiter Hollow's primary employer.

Foreshadowing: The sisters' unity despite their newly discovered relationship proves crucial in stopping the sale.

• stockholder meeting
• factory saved
• Hollowmade
• sale cancelled
• Rose Shelton speech

After the truth about their birth identities was revealed, Sadie Ratliff decided to remain in New York City with Michael, her ex-husband whom she had reconnected with at the Plaza Hotel. This marked a significant life change for her, choosing a new beginning in the city over returning to her rural West Virginia life.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes show Sadie Ratliff embracing the city's vibrancy and surprising everyone with her cheerful demeanor.

• Sadie Ratliff
• Michael
• New York City
• new beginning
• staying in city

A homeless man had been lingering outside the Plaza Hotel throughout the film, observing the sisters' comings and goings. In the final scene, he encounters a businessman who looks exactly like him, leaving both men bewildered. This whimsical wrap-up underscores the film's theme of mistaken identities and doppelgängers, serving as a comedic bookend to the central twin-switching premise.

Foreshadowing: The homeless man appears multiple times throughout the film, watching the chaos unfold, setting up his final scene.

• homeless man
• Plaza Hotel
• doppelganger
• ending scene
• mistaken identity