A Rumor of Angels

A 12-year-old boy James (Trevor Morgan) lives with his father Nathan (Ray Liotta), new stepmother Mary (Catherine McCormack) and Uncle Charlie (Ron Livingston), Nathan's younger brother. James lost his mother in a car accident two years earlier. The memories of the accident still haunt him and make him freeze with panic. He has not been able to talk about his feelings about the accident and the death of his mother because his father is always away from home, and he does not want to talk to his stepmother. One day playing an imaginary game behind the house of Maddy Bennet (Dame Vanessa Redgrave), he breaks her fence. Maddy demands that he fix it. Soon the two become good friends. Maddy also lost her son Bobby in 1974 in the Vietnam War. She tells her experiences of losing her son to James. She forces James to talk about his mother and face his fears. She tells him that her son Bobby talks to her. James' parents do not like the stories Maddy tells James and forbid him from seeing her. James becomes distraught at the "loss" of his friend. Meanwhile, Maddy has a heart attack, and James' parents permit him to nurse her back to health. Soon after her recovery, though, she dies. James becomes reconciled with his father, who now talks to him more, and with his stepmother.