Substance-addicted Hollywood actress, Suzanne Vale is on the skids. After a spell at a detox centre her film company insists as a condition of continuing to employ her that she live with her mother, herself once a star and now a champion drinker. Such a set-up is bad news for Suzanne who has struggled for years to get out of her mother's shadow, and who still treats her like a child. Despite these and other problems, Suzanne begins to see the funny side of her situation, and also realises that not only do daughters have mothers—mothers do too.
Meryl Streep
as Suzanne Vale
Shirley MacLaine
as Doris Mann
Dennis Quaid
as Jack Faulkner
Gene Hackman
as Lowell Kolchek
Richard Dreyfuss
as Dr. Frankenthal
Rob Reiner
as Joe Pierce
Mary Wickes
as Grandma
Conrad Bain
as Grandpa
Annette Bening
as Evelyn Ames
Simon Callow
as Simon Asquith
Gary Morton
as Marty Wiener
CCH Pounder
as Julie Marsden
