Where the Heart Is

Where the Heart Is is a 1990 American romantic comedy film co-written and directed by John Boorman and starring Dabney Coleman, Uma Thurman, Joanna Cassidy, Crispin Glover, Suzy Amis, and Christopher Plummer. Plot Stewart McBain is a successful self-made demolitions expert who blows up buildings for a living. In the midst of one such project, a group of protesters stops the last building on a lot, the Dutch House, from being demolished. When McBain appears on TV to dismiss the protests, he is made to look foolish. Returning home, his three college-aged children–Daphne, Chloe, and Jimmy–ridicule him for his television appearance. Feeling his children are spoiled, McBain kicks them out of the house. Giving them each $750, he drops them off at the Dutch House, which is dilapidated and on the verge of collapse. Jean, their mother, tries to stop him but in vain. In order to finance their new lives, the children take on housemates. These include a fashion designer named Lionel; a homeless magician, Shitty; a stockbroker, Tom; and Sheryl, an amateur occultist. Chloe is commissioned to finish a calendar for an insurance company. Lionel has to complete his designs for a fashion show. Chloe uses her roommates to model in the calendar, incorporating their bodies into ethereal murals on their walls, and Lionel ends up using some of them for his show.