Plot summary

The film begins with Carol (Blythe Danner) waking-up in a bed which used to hold two people. Now her only bedmate is her elderly dog. Soon she is the only one occupying the bed. When she sees a rat in her house, she sleeps outside by the pool. The next morning Lloyd the pool guy (Martin Starr) wakes her. They form a bond and he takes her out Karaokeing - a new adventure. Soon Carol is back spending her day, like all days, playing cards with her friends: other elderly women living in a nearby retirement village. She meets Bill (Sam Elliott) a widower who dates her thereby continuing to open her up to life. Carol's grown daughter comes to visit, learns about her mother's new adventures and is excited that her mother is beginning to live again. Bill dies before he and Carol can re-start life, this time with each other. But Lloyd re-enters her life, captures the rat and Carol sees that both of them need to move on and live for the future. If Carol was a teenager this would be a 'coming-of-age' film. But Carol is a widow in her 60's so it's a 'coming-to-terms-with-life' film. At the film's end, Carol gets a rescue dog to replace her earlier dog and moves on with life.