Plot
Abandoned by her husband and trapped in a malaise that has left her depressed and indifferent to her surroundings, recovering drug addict Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly), living alone in a small house near San Francisco, ignores eviction notices erroneously sent to her for nonpayment of county taxes. Assuming the misunderstanding was cleared up months ago, she is surprised when Sheriff's Deputy Lester Burdon (Ron Eldard) arrives to forcibly evict her from her house. Telling Kathy that her home is to be auctioned off, Burdon feels sympathy for her, helps her move out and advises her to seek legal assistance to regain her house.
Immigrant Massoud Amir Behrani (Ben Kingsley), a former colonel in the Iranian military who fled his homeland with his family, now lives in San Francisco working multiple menial jobs. Living beyond his means, he maintains the façade of a respectable businessman so as not to shame his wife Nadereh (Shohreh Aghdashloo), son Esmail (Jonathan Ahdout) and married daughter Soraya. Seeing the auction of Kathy's house in the newspaper, he buys it for a quarter of its actual value intending to improve and sell the house and use the profits to secure his family's future. While driving by, Kathy is angered to see her house being renovated and confronts the construction workers, injuring her foot. Nadereh and Esmail treat her wound, but her jealousy at seeing how the Behranis have settled in only makes her more determined to get her house back.
Taking Lester's advice, Kathy finds an attorney who assures her that because of the county's mistake, they will return Massoud's money and the house will be restored to her. Massoud, having already spent money on improving the house, is unwilling to accept anything less than the much higher appraised value of the property, which the county refuses to pay. Informed that her only option is to sue the county, Kathy instead tries to convince Massoud to sell back the house for what he paid by telling him she and her brother inherited it from their father. Massoud refuses and angrily manhandles Kathy back into her car.
Desperate for help and a place to stay, Kathy seeks Lester out and enters his private life; the two begin an affair and eventually he abandons his wife and children and becomes her protector. Lester confronts Massoud under a pseudonym, threatening to have him deported if he refuses to resell the house back to the county. Massoud reports this to the police and identifies Lester from a photo, resulting in a reprimand by Internal Affairs, and furiously warns Kathy to back off. Now aware that Lester is in trouble, Kathy calls her brother Frank, but he is unwilling to help her.
Despondent, Kathy attempts suicide outside her old house, but Massoud finds her and brings her inside the house. Kathy again tries to kill herself with pills, but Nadereh saves her by inducing her to vomit. As she and her husband carry Kathy to the bedroom, Lester breaks into the house, sees Kathy unconscious, and locks the Behranis in their own bathroom, refusing to let them out until Massoud agrees to relinquish the house. Massoud eventually offers to sell the house back to the county for the price he paid and will give Kathy the money in exchange for her putting the house in his name. Lester agrees to take Massoud and Esmail to the county office to finalize the transaction, while Kathy reluctantly goes along with the plan.
Outside the office, Lester begins to manhandle Massoud and Esmail seizes Lester's gun and aims it at him. Massoud grabs hold of Lester and screams for help, drawing the attention of nearby police officers who misinterpret the situation and shoot Esmail instead of Lester. Massoud is arrested but is released after Lester confesses and is imprisoned.
After his release, Massoud rushes to the hospital only to find his son did not survive. Massoud, distraught and grief-stricken after the loss of his son, goes home and kills Nadereh by lacing her tea with a lethal dose of medication. He then dons his old military uniform, tapes a plastic dust cover over his head, and asphyxiates himself beside Nadereh's body whilst clutching her hand. Kathy eventually finds the couple and frantically attempts to revive Massoud with CPR but she is too late. As the bodies of Massoud and Nadereh are taken away by paramedics, a policeman asks Kathy if the house is hers. After a long pause, she quietly replies "no".
Read more about this topic: House Of Sand And Fog (film)
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“But, when to Sin our byast Nature leans,
The careful Devil is still at hand with means;
And providently Pimps for ill desires:
The Good Old Cause, reviv’d, a Plot requires,
Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up Common-wealths and ruine Kings.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“There comes a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given him to till.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)