Synopsis/Details
TERI (40) and EMILY (mid-40s), home health nurses who share an elderly patient, finish lunch in a cafe when their waitress chases after them with Teri’s wallet, apparently left behind, and calls Emily by the name “Jean.” Emily covers for herself, but this is the first inkling that there is more going on with Emily than appears at first sight.
Emily returns to the patient, MARGOT (70s), who lives comfortably but suffers from a neurological condition, “left side neglect,” that limits her vision and perception on her left side. Margot’s daughter CECILE (40s), consumed with making money, has little patience for her mother but likes to keep the help on their toes and shake things up with periodic quick visits. Emily’s not very skilled with Margot’s disability, but she pays close attention when Margot and Cecile talk about Margot’s bank account.
Teri and her boyfriend ALAN (30s), training to be a policeman like his father, plan to attend his father’s retirement party. Teri has a formal dress for the occasion, but it needs jewelry. Working in Margot’s bedroom, Teri finds the perfect necklace to borrow and, of course, return. Alan is very concerned when Teri tells him that she borrowed it without asking. Making matters worse, Emily surreptitiously observes Teri borrowing the necklace and records it on her phone.
Eager to return the necklace unnoticed, Teri arrives at Margot’s, only to find that what she borrowed is very valuable and everyone is searching for it. Her attention consumed, Teri doesn’t notice that Emily is scheming at Teri’s expense. Emily goes through Teri’s purse, and while Margot naps, Emily copies Margot’s personal papers and steals a valuable insurance policy. She later cajoles Margot into sharing access to Margot’s bank accounts.
In short order Emily steals Teri’s identity, withdraws Margot’s funds, cashes in Margot’s insurance policy, and misdirects the bank into believing the money will go for Margot’s care, while she misdirects Margot and her daughter into thinking Teri is the real thief. Then Emily disappears, taking with her all of Margot’s money.
Devastated by the loss and her own appearance of guilt, Teri turns to her boyfriend Alan for help. Alan has been intimidated by his father’s successful career in police work and doubt about his own abilities. But now, faced with Teri’s urgent need to prove her innocence, Alan rallies and uses his training and skills to support Teri’s efforts to prove her innocence.
Margot counts on Teri for home care, but she too is ready to help Teri prove her innocence, find Emily and bring her to justice. Margot is so motivated, in fact, that she begins to overcome her perceptual disability and recover her vision on her left side.
Teri finds Emily, but Emily is confident she has the proof she needs to pin her own thefts on Teri. Not only does she have a cell-phone picture of Teri taking the necklace from Margot’s bureau, she’s also teamed up with Margot’s daughter Cecile who’s eager to move Margot into a nursing home and sell her house out from under her. But Teri, wearing a wire for the police, tricks Cecile into making a confession on tape.
As the story ends, Emily and Cecile are both under arrest, Alan has graduated and become a police officer, and Teri and Alan prepare to move in with Margot and pay rent so she can hold on to her house.
