to wade in. After she rejects his efforts, he realizes her free spirit is gone. One morning, he leaves for work, never to return. Abandoned, bitter, and trapped in a life she didn't want, Sophia ends up like her overbearing mother, particularly in her relationship with Finn. Years later, when the wind blows part of Finn's thesis into the pond, she wades in to get it. With her feet in the pool, she remembers what her husband tried to remind her of all those years ago, and one of the last scenes shows her diving off the high dive. Em Reed Em marries young, like most of the women in the story. Despite the promiscuity of her artistic husband Dean, she stays with him for a period of time. Eventually, after discovering yet another affair, she leaves him whilst pregnant. She returns to her parents' home, but it still takes three months before Dean comes to find her. He begs forgiveness yet again, and her parents pack her bags, loading them into Dean's car. At this point, Em has no choice but to return to her broken life. Years later, she suspects Constance is having an affair with Dean, which causes friction between them. Later, she realizes that, in his own way, Dean does truly love her when she takes shelter in his studio during a sudden wind storm and discovers numerous paintings of her telling the story of their life together over the years. Glady Joe Cleary and Hy Dodd Gladiola (Glady) Joe and Hyacinth (Hy) are Finn's great aunt and grandmother and sisters to one another. At one point, Hy goes to visit her dying husband in the hospital. Despite her deep love for her husband, she leaves the hospital and sleeps with Glady's husband Arthur in a moment of weakness and tragic emotion. After Glady discovers the truth, she smashes every one of her porcelain figurines and plasters them onto the wall of the laundry room as a reminder of her anger. She never really forgives Arthur and does not forgive Hy until the end of the movie. Their reconciliation is symbolized by the demolition of the plastered walls in the laundry room when Glady realizes that her love for her sister surpasses her feelings of betrayal. Constance Saunders Constance had a happy and fulfilling marriage until her husband Howell died, leaving her a young widow. While