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Bud and Betsy
Baxter are in their fifteenth year hosting the popular local TV
program "Breakfast with the Baxters" when they learn their show is
being cancelled. Still reeling from the loss, Bud and Betsy are
grateful when two unexpected visitors (Monica and Andrew) show up
on their doorstep, feigning car trouble. Monica and Andrew become
a welcome distraction for the Baxters, who have devoted their
lives to their show and in doing so, have avoided dealing honestly
with each other. With a captive audience, Bud and Betsy take a
certain glee in telling their guests the whole ugly story of how
they were unceremoniously canned after 15 years. Monica and
Andrew try to convince the Baxters of the importance of grieving.
But Bud pours himself another Scotch while espousing the
importance of carrying on. Meanwhile, Betsy busies herself
looking through some storage boxes for her mother's meatloaf
recipe when she comes across a baby's jumper outfit -- a painful
remind of the child they "lost." But it's not long before the
truth comes out that they didn't actually "lose" the baby, so much
as they "cancelled" it -- just like their show has been
cancelled. Rather than talk about it, Bud retreats to his rose
garden to cover the roses from an expected frost. Andrew joins
Bud, who explains that the news of Betsy's pregnancy came just as
they got their big break to host their own TV program. They ended
up getting into an argument and rather than deal with it, he took
off for a wedding they were supposed to attend together. When he
returned, the pregnancy had been terminated and neither of them
brought up the subject again. The argument comes to a head and in
his usual flight response, Bud heads off in search of a suitcase.
Meanwhile, Monica helps Betsy sort through her feelings. Betsy
admits that she didn't feel she had the right to grieve. She
thought they'd get their careers going and that the babies would
come later. Their inability to discuss their loss only fostered
resentment which built up over the years. Bud is getting ready to
leave when Monica asks why they have no chairs around the dining
room table. Betsy explains how their first dinner together in
their new home became so awkward because of the topic they were
both avoiding. Bud made up the excuse that the chairs weren't
comfortable in order to escape into the kitchen to eat alone, and
dining room chairs are something they've done without ever since.
Bud is about to walk out on his marriage when Betsy urges him to
fight to save their marriage. Betsy then asks Monica to read a
poem she wrote and had saved all these years. In the poem, Betsy
expresses her need to share her grief with Bud. Bud apologizes
and begins to break down the wall that had come between them.
Monica and Andrew reveal themselves as angels to deliver a message
of forgiveness and the importance of including God in their
decisions, in their lives and at their dinner table. Dining room
chairs appear at the table where they were not before, as Monica
and Andrew leave Bud and Betsy to begin anew.
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