An unhappy couple rediscover their lost love for one another when a 10 year old boy comes to visit them for the summer, and in doing so learn to deal with the past that had them falling apart.Willard Young (ELIJAH WOOD) is 10 years old and is going to a private school on a scholarship. However, for some reason he is afraid of everything around him. He has not seen his father for so long, he thinks he's away on sea duty. Then one day, his mother sends him to the small yet dull town. It turns out he's staying with an old friend of his mother's named Lily Reed (MELANIE GRIFFITH) who is married to Ben Reed (DON JOHNSON). While Willard is out and about looking for something to do, he comes across a 9 year old female tomboy named Billie Pike (THORA BIRCH). She herself dosen't know who her father is or what he does and has a mother (SHELIA McCARTHY) who just can't keep up with a relationship. But it isn't long before both Willard and Billie become something neither one of them don't have: a best friend. While their friendship blossoms, Ben and Lily come to terms with their own problems. Years ago they had a son to love, until one day he died of an accident and have been long suffering ever since. Lily in particular has been unable to piece together her life ever since the tragedy, not even Ben can get through to her. But with a little help from the time they both have been spending with Willard, they instantly regain their happiness and Willard on the other hand comes to terms with his own fears, even the discovery to the shocking truth that his father was never on sea duty, but in fact left his mother for another woman. As for Billie, when she tries to make contact with a skating ring teacher (whom she believes is her father) her heart is broken and must come to accept that she doesn't have a father anymore. The question is will anyone learn to accept what they have and what they never did? They must learn this for themselves, all the while trying to find the one thing that leads to salvation and redemption: Paradise.