In the movie, How to Make an American Quilt , based on a novel by Whitney Otto, the members of the Grasse Quilting Bee stitch pieces from the stories of their lives as they each reflect on the significant passage their quilt block portrays. She says the more she knows about something, the less she wants to know about it. Her current thesis topic deals with how women's handiwork in various tribal cultures reflects a sense of ritual. Newly engaged to her boyfriend, Sam, portrayed by Dermot Mulroney, and the product of hippie era parents who divorced when she was very young, Finn brings along for the summer emotional baggage that weighs heavily on her. Still unsure why her parents' marriage failed, she wonders if perhaps it is no one's fault when marriage fails.
Love simply dies.
Years of watching her mother discard an endless string of boyfriends have taken their toll on Finn's confidence in her own choices. Finn's worries about the future are robbing her of the joy of her engagement. Sam has driven Finn to Aunt Glady's, and they agree he will pick her up in September. He plans to spend the summer renovating their future home, tearing down partitions, building new walls, relocating plumbing, and creating an office and an extra room. Symbolic of stripping away layers of the old life in preparation for a new one, Sam's actions seem healthy and indicative of confident choices for the future.