Sandra Dunmore, played by Patricia Arquette, is a charming real estate agent with a blonde bob who begins a flirtatious and openly sexual sequence with her brother-in-law Ben. Their encounters unfold as they attend church together and participate in community outreach, where she quietly plays back a micro floppy disk of pipe organ sequences for the church choir, a detail that deepens the sense of obsession she has with their illicit bond. The atmosphere at church and in Sandra’s polished professional life dissolves into a dangerous, escalating affair, all underscored by Sandra’s fixation on a favorite The Sound of Music soundtrack that seems to soundtrack every secret moment.
Ben Dunmore, played by Don Johnson, is Sandra’s partner in crime and the man she pursues despite the risks. He is married to Sandra’s sister, but his loyalty is pulled in another direction as he awkwardly balances family ties, work, and the lure of Sandra’s unpredictable intensity. Across town, Jake Dunmore, played by Dermot Mulroney, Ben’s much younger brother and an unstable alcoholic, mismanages his own public persona: he stumbles through company meetings, embarrasses himself in front of his boss, and flirts with Peggy Blaine, who also carries her own secret affair with Ben. The tangled web grows heavier as Ben begins to fear Sandra’s tendency to reveal their affair, and he starts to pull away, hoping to protect himself from the psychotic spirals that seem to follow her.
As Sandra’s fury intensifies, she begins stalking and harassing Ben, who is trying to sustain a healthier relationship with Peggy. At a dinner party, a hungover Jake admits that something is terribly wrong in his marriage and hints at suicidal thoughts, a moment that unsettles Ben and hints at the danger lurking beneath their circle. The following morning, Jake erupts with the truth: he knows about the affair and vows to seek revenge no matter what. A fateful night arrives when Peggy and Ben return from a date, intending another clandestine liaison, only to find Jake drunkenly calling from afar, threatening to ruin them all.
On a pivotal night, Ben visits Jake’s trashed apartment, where his brother sits on the balcony ledge in a moment that teeters on collapse. Ben imagines pushing him to his death but cannot complete the act. The moment of peril shifts when Sandra blinds Ben with a flashlight, triggering his own precarious perch on the balcony edge. In a shocking turn, Ben is pushed off the ledge to a painful, irreversible fall, and the lovers and the brother—Sandra’s lover and Jake—are revealed to have betrayed him completely.
Sandra and Jake spin a cover story for Sergeant Rita Pompano, a sharp investigator played by Ellen DeGeneres, and her partner Rollins, played by Ray McKinnon. Rita remains suspicious of their tale about a drunken Ben trying to halt a suicide, all while she juggles a separate serial killer case. Amid the investigation, Peggy Blaine, played by Mary-Louise Parker, confesses in private that she and Ben secretly married in Las Vegas, making her the legal heir to Ben’s fortune and sending Sandra into a fresh storm of rage and fear.
The plot thickens as Sandra and Jake attempt to secure the money while pinning Peggy’s death on the supposed serial killer. The truth, however, is that the supposed killer is a paid hitman who once loved Sandra, a dangerous mercenary who uses a poison needle to strike, fooling the police into thinking a spree is underway. The plan shifts again when Jake decides to turn the hit on Sandra herself, sparing Peggy’s killer’s target and pushing Sandra into a deadly web of betrayal.
Sandra uncovers the truth of Peggy and Jake’s affair—and that Jake had married Peggy under Ben’s name to secure the inheritance—so the couple can retreat to a life in the woods. In a brutal double-cross, Sandra disguises herself to pursue them and purchases a getaway car, ultimately pushing Peggy and Jake off a cliff road. The detectives are closing in as the police reveal the couples’ intertwined schemes, while Rita contemplates her next move and the insurance payout.
Rita, tired of the system’s unfair treatment and hungry for control, uses a new leverage: arresting Sandra if she does not split Ben and Jake’s combined $8 million life-insurance payout. Sandra agrees, but the plan is disrupted when the hitman resurfaces—only to be recognized by Rita from the crime scene, and she saves Sandra from the danger they thought would end her. In the aftermath, two months pass, and both women prepare to claim their wealth, while Rollins views the outcome with wary happiness.
The end credits linger on a haunting parallel: Sandra, unmoved by the chaos she created, continues to carry out Ben’s church duties with a chilling mix of devotion and control, leaving the audience with a portrait of wealth won through manipulation and a life forever haunted by the consequences of a single, dangerous choice.
