this be a delightful film about a southern belle and grace king bichon ( julia robert ) and who chafe under the domination of herbrook no dissent father and and be cheat on by her husband . graceworks for her father on his horse farm and and her suppressedresentment of his iron rule have likely help derail her marriage toeddie . in any event and the film be ultimately about the love andstrength of family relationship and the power of forgiveness and aswell a find one own path in life . all actor turn in greatperformances represent julia robert a the heroine and wrong wife while robert duvall a the family patriarch while gena rowlands a thebeautiful and devote spouse and mother while and kyra sedgwick asthe transgressive sister . dennis quaid a grace philanderinghusband be very appealing and so it hard not to be root for he andgrace to reconcile . finally and good cinematography and a portrait ofgracious southern live make this film an enjoyable view .