Summaries

Synopsis

Libby Parsons seems to have it all. Her husband, Nick, is devoted to her and their four-year-old son Matty. The family live in a beautiful home on the Pacific Northwest waterfront. When Nick scores yet another business triumph, he proposed buying Libby a sailboat to celebrate. Leaving Matty with their friend Angie, who is a teacher at Matty's preschool, the couple set sail for a romantic weekend. Libby wakes up and finds she is covered in blood and Nick is gone. Dizzy and disoriented, she follows a trail of blood to the upper deck. Nick is not there but Libby sees a bloody knife and picks it up. The lights of a Coast Guard boat flash and a voice orders Libby to drop the knife. It turns out a mayday was received from the Parsons' yacht where Nick advises them he has been stabbed. Tests reveal that the blood found on the yacht was the same type as Nick's. It is presumed that the couple had an argument and Libby attacked Nick. He managed to send a mayday alert before falling or being pushed overboard.Despite the fact that no body is found, Libby is charged with murder. No one believes her story, not even the sheriff who is a family friend. Frantic over what will happen to Matty if she is found guilty, Libby signs over custody to Angie. Nick had a $2 million life insurance policy -- which police believe was the motive for his murder -- and Libby has the money put in Matty's name.The jury finds Libby guilty. She is taken to a women's prison several hours away. At first Angie regularly brings Matty to visit. When they stop coming, Libby telephones Angie but the number is disconnected. She is inconsolable until a fellow prisoner tells her to use her brain. It is not that easy to disappear and Angie must have left a forwarding address with someone. Libby calls the preschool pretending to be Angie and says she hasn't received her final paycheck. She asks to confirm the forwarding address and phone number, and the secretary provides the information. Angie and Matty are in San Francisco.Angie answers the phone and Libby angrily confronts her. Obviously startled that Libby has managed to track her down, Angie stammers that she was intending to bring Matty for a visit. Libby spends a few minutes talking to her son. Suddenly Nick, alive and well, enters the room. Matty shouts "Daddy!" while Angie tries to shush him. Nick yanks the phone away and hangs up, but Libby hears enough to realize what has happened. Nick staged his own murder so he could disappear because of his business financial issues and he set Libby up to take the blame for his murder while he relocated with Angie and his son. Libby contacts her lawyer, the sheriff, and the insurance company but no one believes her that Nick is alive. Libby finds the San Francisco phone number to be no longer in service.A fellow prisoner, who was once a lawyer before killing her husband, comes to her aid. Libby is informed that she can't be tried twice for the same crime. It is called double jeopardy. Once she is paroled, Libby can track Nick down, kill him, and get away with it. Libby's hatred of Nick fuels her and she begins exercising vigorously to strengthen her body. After 6 years, she is eligible for parole. Her friend warns her that in order to be released, she must admit to killing Nick and show great remorse to the parole board. It works and Libby is sent to a halfway house for three years.Upon arrival, she is apprised of the rules by the home's director, an embittered ex-lawyer named Travis. Curfew, finding employment, not associating with criminals, no drugs or alcohol. Any violation of these rules and she will be returned to prison to serve out her sentence. But Libby's only goal is to find Nick and her son and she has no intention of waiting three years.Instead of looking for a job, she goes to the preschool that once employed Angie. The school's director is sympathetic but refuses to tell her where Angie is now living. She reminds Libby that Matty has been with Angie for several years now and there is no need to disrupt his life. That night, Libby returns to the preschool and breaks in. The police arrive as she locates Angie's file and takes a page of information. She escapes by running down the beach but is eventually caught and taken to the local jail. Travis arrives the next morning to escort her back to prison. He is disgusted that she deliberately violated parole. The scrap of paper with Angie's address is in his possession.He drives them onto the ferry and handcuffs Libby's wrist to the outside door handle of his classic car. When he goes topside for a cup of coffee, to which he adds whiskey from a flask, Libby seizes her chance. Travis left the keys in the car and Libby manages to start it. Then she drives it back and forth, trying to smash the handcuffs and door handle against a post. The car in front of her is bumped and rolls off the boat into the ocean. Travis realizes what is going on and races to the lower level. Libby manages to lock the driver's door and Travis breaks the window and climbs in as she drives the car overboard.An alarm is sounded on the very and life preservers are tossed in the water. Underwater, Travis manages to unlock Libby's handcuff and she grabs his pistol. He tries to retrieve it and she hits him on the head before swimming away. His wound requires stitches. When he tells his boss what happened, he is reprimanded for letting a prisoner escape with his gun. Having the address to where Libby is likely headed, he sets off after her.Libby hitches a rides to her mother's farm. After receiving some hidden money from her mother she purchases an old green pickup truck and sets off. Travis sets out to follow and capture Libby without authorization.Libby goes to a BMW car dealership and pretends she is Angie. The car salesman does a credit check using Angie's social security number and Libby is asked to confirm her address in Evergreen Colorado and the salesman says her record shows her last name is Ryder and not Green. Travis coerces a former parolee who is now a government employee to search Angela Green's social security number to get her address.She has no trouble finding the address but Nick and Angie are not there. Another family owns the house. As a despondent Libby turns to leave, an old lady working in the yard next door tells her what happened to Nick and Angie, who she knew by different names. Several years earlier there was a gas explosion in the kitchen and Angie was killed. Nick and Matty moved away but the old lady doesn't know where.Libby goes to the public library and finds a newspaper account of the fire on microfiche. Apparently it was accidental, although Libby thinks that Nick murdered. In the newspaper picture of Angie taken at her home, Libby sees a Kandinsky painting in the background. Nick had a collection of these rare paintings and Libby thinks this might be a way to trace him. She drives to an art gallery and poses as a Kandinsky collector. The gallery employee looks on the internet and finds a painting recently sold by a Jonathan Devereaux of New Orleans. Libby recognizes the painting and is sure the seller is really Nick. Then Travis has spotted the pickup and enters the gallery. He was given a description of her truck by the elderly neighbor. While the employee excuses himself and goes to see what Travis wants, Libby finds Jonathan's address. She runs out the back door and escapes, smashing her truck into Travis's car that he used to block her vehicle. He gives chase on foot, but she eludes him. Later, she ditches the truck and gets on a plane to New Orleans. Travis checks the website at the gallery and knows where she is headed.Jonathan Devereaux is a well-respected hotel owner in New Orleans. Libby inquires for him at the desk but he is not there but is expected that night for a Bachelor's auction. When she asks about Matty, the receptionist becomes wary and refuses to provide any information. At another high end hotel Libby overhears an elderly female guest give her name and gets her room number. Libby uses the name and room number to purchase a designer evening gown and accessories from the hotel shop. She intends to be at the Bachelor's Auction that night to confront Jonathan.Travis arrives in New Orleans and checks in with the local police. They aren't much interested in the escaped parolee but agree to issue a be-on-the-lookout alert for Libby, complete with photo, once Travis explains she is out to kill a prominent local citizen with his stolen gun.. Since it is Mardi Gras, the crowds are heavy and finding her won't be easy.

Libby attends the auction and bids on Jonathan. Nick is startled to hear her voice but cannot find her in the crowd. Another woman bids on him too but Libby keeps raising the bid and wins. She walks up to her husband and calls him Nick. He is eager to find out what she wants before she exposes him. Libby tells several of Johnathan's female friends that she is his wife and Shawn she asks him about Angie the women depart.When she asks why he did all that to her, he said he had been on the verge of bankruptcy and thought if he faked his death, the life insurance money would take care of her and Matty. He never dreamed she would be found guilty. Nick claims Angies's death was an accident but Libby is not buying it. Libby agrees to leave him alone if he will give her Matty. Jonathan says he is away at school. Libby says she will call the next day and he had better have the boy thereLater that evening, Travis arrives at Nick's hotel. Jonathan swears he has no idea who this crazy woman is, pretending to be his wife. Travis warns him that she has a gun. Travis is not impressed with Jonathan and wonders if Libby's story could possibly be true. Travis spots some of the Kazinsky paintings on the wall. He contacts his office in Washington to get copies of Nick's driver license picture.earlier Libby is recognized by the owner of a bar where she is eating from a police bulletin picture. He warns her to watch out for the police, who have entered the bar. Since it is pouring rain, he loans her a red umbrella. Libby disappears into the crowds but not fast enough. Travis, who is riding in a patrol car, spots her. He gives chase and grabs the wrong woman. Once again Libby escapes.Libby calls Jonathan while he is speaking to Travis and tells him to bring Matty to a popular nearby cemetery the next day. It is a public place in case Jonathan tries anything. A funeral is taking place when they meet. Libby asks where Matty is and Jonathan points to a young boy some distance off. He says Matty is shy about seeing her again. Libby starts toward the boy and he runs away. She calls his name and chases him. Suddenly Jonathan steps out from behind a mausoleum and hits Libby on the head. He drags her into the mausoleum and puts her inside a coffin. The boy is waiting outside and Jonathan hands him some money. Obviously he is not Matty. Satisfied that his wife will trouble him no longer, Jonathan returns to his hotel.Travis pays him another visit and once again Jonathan insists that he knows nothing about a woman named Libby Parsons. Although he is now very suspicious, Travis has no choice but to leave.Libby awakes inside the coffin and screams when she sees a mummified body lying next to her. But there is no one to hear. The funeral is over and the cemetery is deserted. She remembers the gun and shoots the two hinges off. By pushing on the lid she manages to free herself. But she is still locked inside the mausoleum. She escapes by throwing a vase of dead flowers through the stained glass window. On her way back to the hotel, she comes face to face with Travis. Realizing that she can't get away this time, she bursts into tears and Travis tells her it is over and embraces her.Jonathan is less than welcoming when Travis returns to his office. Travis explains he asked the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state of Washington to fax him copies of Nicholas Parsons' driver license. Travis shoes him a picture of another man and then reveals that there were several Nicholas Parsons, six in fact, and that the third one was a picture of the man now known as Jonathan Devereaux. Jonathan tries to bluff and says it isn't a crime to change one's name. But there is the matter of insurance fraud. Travis pretends to start to call the police and then pretends to reconsider and asks for one million dollars to keep quiet. Jonathan doesn't have that kind of money on hand but offers Travis the hundred thousand he has in the safe in cash and the rest tomorrow. Johnathan explains that the problem with Libby is buried. Suddenly Libby bursts into the room, gun drawn. Jonathan reminds her that Louisiana is a death penalty state. Libby explains to him what she understands double jeopardy to mean and Travis backs her up. But all she wants is Matty. Jonathan says he is at St. Alban's school in Georgia. Libby shoots a hole in one of Nick's paintings. Travis and Libby threaten to frame Johnathan for Libby's murder. As Travis and Libby go to leave Jonathan draws his own gun and shoots Travis. A brief scuffle ensures and in the end Jonathan/Nick is shot by Libby.

As Travis is treated by paramedics, the police chief says that Mrs. Parsons has inherited herself a hotel. Libby doesn't want it and prepares to take off. But Travis stops her. She is still wanted by the police and must return to Seattle but he will testify on her behalf to get a full pardon. Since he had secretly recorded the conversation with Jonathan on his cell phone, which positively identified Jonathan as Nick Parsons, the charges against Libby will be cleared.Libby and Travis travel together to St. Alban's school. Travis has been fired from his job as a parole officer. Libby and Matty are at last reunited. Matty explains that his father and Angie had told him his mother was dead.