Labor Day

In 1987, Adele Wheeler is a depressed single mother who lives in a rural home with her 13-year-old son, Henry. One day, while they are out shopping, a man approaches Henry and persuades them to take him in for a while. The man is revealed to be Frank Chambers, an escaped convict wanted by the police.

Through a series of flashbacks, the film slowly uncovers Frank’s past. He is a Vietnam War veteran who married his pregnant girlfriend, Mandy Chambers. A year after their baby’s birth, they have a fierce argument during which he questions whether he is the father, as Mandy is often away and with other men. In a confrontation, he pushes her against a radiator, and she dies. At the same time, visual hints suggest the baby may have drowned. Frank is imprisoned for murder.

Adele confides that she has endured a long sequence of miscarriages after Henry, culminating in a full-term stillbirth of a daughter. This history has left her grappling with deep anxiety and depression.

Frank, grateful for shelter, helps restore Adele’s house and takes on various chores. In return, he and Adele share a dance, and Frank teaches Henry practical skills like car repair and baseball. He also helps Adele and Henry bake a peach pie. Over time, Adele and Frank fall in love. They hatch a plan to flee to Canada with Henry, packing the car and cleaning the house in preparation. Meanwhile, Henry forms a bond with a sharp, rebellious girl his age named Eleanor and worries she might be right about Adele and Frank leaving him behind. Adele reassures him that she would never abandon him.

On the morning of their planned departure, Henry slips a note into his father’s mailbox. A police officer stops by and offers a ride home, and Henry accepts. The officer notices the packed car and the already sparse house, but leaves. Adele goes to the bank to withdraw her savings, drawing the attention of the tellers. While Adele is away, their neighbor Evelyn stops by and is surprised to meet Frank, who presents himself as a handyman, though Evelyn remains wary.

Henry’s father discovers the note and calls the house. Before Adele, Frank, and Henry can escape, the sound of approaching sirens fills the air. In a bid to avoid charges for harboring a fugitive, Frank ties Adele and Henry up. He shares a final kiss with Adele and declares he would spend twenty years in prison for three more days with her, then surrenders. Adele wishes to aid him, but the prosecutor warns that helping him could separate Henry from his mother. She writes letters to Frank, but he returns them unopened.

Henry ends up living with his father for a time. In his senior year of high school, his father takes him to dinner and confesses that his departure years earlier was driven by the mother’s enduring grief over the loss of their baby girl, which had become more than he could bear. The father explains he left to pursue happiness, and Henry wakes the next day to return to his mother, resuming a life of baking pies.

Years pass, and Henry becomes a successful pie-shop owner, even gracing a magazine feature. He is contacted by Frank, who sees the shop in the article and keeps a copy on the wall of his prison cell, and asks Henry whether he should try to see his mother again. Henry informs him that his mother remains single in the same family home.

When Frank is released, he returns to Adele and they embrace. The final scenes show them together, walking arm in arm down a country dirt road. Henry finds some solace in knowing his mother is not alone, and the film closes on a quiet note of familial resilience and tentative reconciliation.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 15:35