Fact1: Bud 's high school sweetheart and now P.J. invites Bud out for walk, Fact2: walk is met with curious suspicion by Bud 's father, Fact3: Speck is met with shock and disapproval by Bud, Fact4: Bud after has sex learning of P.J. 's affair with Speck, Fact5: Alice continues becomes tired of small town life and neglect
Output: Music superstar Bud Parks, along with his statuesque wife, Alice, and their approximately eightyearold daughter, Terri Jo, return to his small hometown, fictional Doak City, Indiana, for his paternal grandfathers 80th birthday. Initially, the visit is lighthearted and Bud receives a heros welcome from many of his relatives and fans. But what is supposed to be a threeday visit of fun quickly turns into much more. At the birthday party, Buds high school sweetheart and now sisterinlaw, P.J., invites Bud out for a walk, which is met with curious suspicion by Buds father, Speck. P.J. confesses she has sex with Speck, which is met with shock and disapproval by Bud. Speck, a successful poultry farmer, is shown early on to be a chauvinistic and dominating womanizer. He fathered an illegitimate son but his wife, Marian, stayed with him. Speck refers to himself as a sire and the women who bore his children as fillies. Over time he is revealed to be dominating, violent, exploitive and shameless, to the point of even making a pass at Buds wife. Bud and Alice seem to have a good marriage, and she is clearly very devoted. But after learning of P.J.s affair with Speck, Bud has sex with P.J. as well. P.J. seems to view her sexual encounters as conquests and take pride in simultaneously having three Parks men as lovers. She also seems to view her promiscuity, and the need to keep it secret, as a source of excitement for a housewife and mother who resides in what she considers to be a boring town. The three days turn into several weeks. Buds feelings of both love and lust for P.J. are rekindled, and he neglects Alice. Already disillusioned by the music business and thinking about leaving it, he realizes that hes a smalltown man at heart and wants to stay in Doak City, where many of his relatives still reside. His anger toward his father also escalates. Californiabred Alice continues to love her husband but quickly becomes tired of small town life and his neglect. She accuses Bud of committing adultery. He doesnt deny it and she leaves with Terri Jo. Bud tries to get P.J. back as the woman of his life. She reveals that she wanted that many years earlier, but that he wouldnt make a commitment, and its too late now. Frustrated and angry, Bud confronts Speck in a restaurant. Speck shows no interest or sympathy in his sons problems but expresses displeasure in having received none of the millions of dollars Bud has made in music. On the basis that he sired Bud, Speck claims to be entitled to some of Buds money. Bud warns Speck to make no further sexual advances at Alice and, in a rage, knocks the food and tableware off the table. As Bud gets up to leave, he is viciously beaten by Speck. Feeling like hes hit rock bottom, Bud gets drunk and performs a stunt from his wild youth. He lies in a cage in the back of a pickup truck and has one of his friends push the cage onto the road while the truck is moving. He wakes up lying in a hospital bed wearing a brace on his neck and a cast on his right arm. Standing beside his bed are P.J., his sister Sally Cutler and his paternal grandmother. Alice returns and seems willing to take Bud back if he will be honest with her. Having been rejected by P.J. and humbled by his father and the accident, Bud now realizes whats most important in his life. He and Alice reconcile.