gain her attention, despite learning she has a steady boyfriend. Dolly suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized. Victor tells Delores and Callie that Dolly is having minor surgery. Several days later, Dolly dies while Victor is eating lunch in the hospital cafeteria. The grieving Victor does not tell anyone of her death, but runs the restaurant as usual and deals with his grief by binge eating. Delores soon becomes suspicious about Dolly's extended absence, and also makes sexual advances towards Victor, which he rejects. One night at the restaurant, Callie argues with her boyfriend Jeff and then in her anger tells off Delores in front of the customers. Delores' alcoholic friend Leo later assaults Victor for not taking Delores' side. Callie is left stranded at the restaurant and Victor drives her home, stopping en route so they can watch airplanes descend at an airfield. As they watch the airplanes, Callie becomes emotional over her lack of direction in life, and she and Victor end up kissing, but Callie quickly ends the encounter. Callie asks Victor to take her to visit Dolly in the hospital, and unable to confess that Dolly is dead, he agrees. The next morning, Callie arrives at Victor's house to accompany him to the hospital, but instead Victor drives her to the local cemetery and shows her Dolly's fresh grave. Callie becomes hysterical, and later fails to turn up for her restaurant shifts. Leo and Delores find out via a hospital employee that Dolly died weeks ago, and berate Victor for not telling them, then depart together, leaving Victor alone in the restaurant. In his rage and grief, Victor smashes items behind the counter. Later that evening, Callie arrives with Jeff to tell Victor she's quitting and to collect her final paycheck. She spends a few minutes alone with Victor, explaining that she plans to go back to college, but promising to come back and visit him sometime. In the final scenes, Victor begins to emerge from his grief over Dolly's death. He stops binge eating, starts cleaning up the kitchen which he has neglected, and even musters the confidence to chat with Darlene, an attractive cashier at the local grocery market, who also shows an interest in him. Cast Production Conception Heavy was director James Mangold's directorial debut, as well as his first screenplay. According to Mangold, who grew up in the Hudson River Valley,