Fact1: Chicago housewife but instead is ambushed with revelation is invited onto Toni Post talk show under pretense of getting free makeover, Fact2: Bill has been having affair with best friend, Fact3: Bernice move to Birdee 's hometown of Smithville Texas precocious only daughter, Fact4: Birdee struggles to make new life as working single mother and deals with growing attraction between herself and former high school classmate, Fact5: Ramona mend gap between daughter and granddaughter by telling childhood story of her own
Output: Birdee Pruitt Sandra Bullock is a Chicago housewife who is invited onto the Toni Post talk show under the pretense of getting a free makeover but instead is ambushed with the revelation that her husband Bill has been having an affair with her best friend Connie Rosanna Arquette. Humiliated on national television, Birdee and her precocious only daughter Bernice Mae Whitman move back to Birdees hometown of Smithville, Texas, with Birdees eccentric mother Ramona Gena Rowlands and her young, imaginative nephew Travis Cameron Finley, to make a fresh start. As Birdee and Bernice leave Chicago, Birdee gives Bernice a letter from her father, telling Bernice how much he misses her. Birdee struggles to make a new life as a working single mother and deals with the growing attraction between herself and a former high school classmate, Justin Matisse Harry Connick Jr., who Ramona hopes that Birdee will get together with. She also tries to rebuild her relationship with her estranged mother, her father who has Alzheimers Disease, and her daughter, who desperately wants to be with her father and grudgingly blames her mother for the breakup, even trying to sabotage the romantic overtures Justin makes towards Birdee. Meanwhile, Bernice is not very happy that she left Chicago and is having difficulty adjusting to her new life and school in Smithville. Her negative view of the small town is worsened when she is bullied by a classmate known as Big Dolores. Adding to Birdees heartache is her former status as the school queen bee and a beauty pageant winner, which alienated many of her former classmates. They also havent forgotten Birdees high school snobbery and rub her nose in her televised embarrassment. Ramona tries to mend the gap between her daughter and granddaughter by telling a childhood story of her own. She asks Bernice what shes wishing for her upcoming birthday. Even though Bernice says she doesnt have a birthday wish, she secretly wishes for her father to return. That night, while drinking a cup of tea before she could sleep, Ramona suffers a massive heart attack and dies. Birdies sister sends a telegram that she cant make the funeral and Travis wonders if Birdie will him raise him now. Bernice believes her fathers presence at the funeral is a sign that her wish has come true... and that her father wants them both to come home. However, it soon becomes clear to her that her parents split is permanent when Bill asks Birdee for a divorce. Wanting to be with her father, Bernice runs up to her room, packs a suitcase, and follows Bill to his car. She is devastated when her father tells her that even though he loves her and promises to come back for her, he has no room for her in his new life with Connie right now. Bill turns his back on Bernice and drives off, leaving her sobbing and screaming for him to come back and take her with him at the end of the driveway. Birdee comes to pick Bernice up and carries her back into the house. As Birdee comforts Bernice up in her bedroom, Bernice says she knows the letter was actually written by her mother, and not really by her father. One day at work, Birdee finds Justin outside waiting for her with flowers. As she walks to him, she says, Ok, Mama, stop pushing. After they kiss and embrace, he picks her up, places her in his truck and they drive off together. The final scene shows Birdee, Justin, Bernice, and Travis at a big town event. Birdee has now taken full custody of Travis and is also dating Justin, but shes still not planning on getting married again for a really long time. Bernice welcomes Smithville as her new hometown, ultimately accepts Bills departure from her life as a fulltime parent, and begins to accept Justin as her mothers new love interest and a father figure. She and Birdee are much closer because of everything theyve been through, as Bernice finally realizes it wasnt her mothers fault that her father left them and that Birdee really did love her. They share a tender, yet humorous moment when Bernice asks Birdee if shes going to marry Justin. When Birdee asks her if she doesnt like Justin, Bernice says her only real concern is being known as Bernice Matisse.