Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
The film's main character is a 15-year-old girl named Dinky Bossetti (Ryder). Dinky was adopted as a baby. She appears to have little acceptance in her social circle, although it is not obvious which came first - her antisocial attitude or her being rejected by her peers. Her adoptive mother is disappointed that the daughter she chose has no interest in "feminine" things, such as makeup and nice clothing. Her classmates ostracize, taunt, and throw things at her regularly. Dinky finds solace in her "Ark", a small cabin-boat beached on a lake shore. In and around the boat, Dinky has collected a menagerie of abandoned animals.
As the story begins, Dinky is befriended by a new school guidance counselor, who recognizes her intelligence and spirit. Dinky becomes convinced that she is the abandoned daughter of Roxy Carmichael, a minor film star who left town for Hollywood 15 years ago after giving birth to a baby girl out of wedlock. Miss Carmichael has been invited to return to town to assist in the dedication of a new municipal building, and she has accepted. The news of her return stirs up old jealousies and insecurities: old schoolmates start acting in irrational ways, while Denton Webb (Jeff Daniels), the husband she abandoned when she left town, becomes so obsessed by the idea of her return that his wife moves out.
As the date for Roxy's return draws nearer, Dinky becomes more and more desperate to prove that she is Roxy's daughter, visiting the star's childhood home (which is maintained as a museum), and obsessively questioning Denton about what happened the night she left, believing that Roxy will take her away to a new life. On the day that Roxy is due to arrive, Dinky packs her suitcase and arrives at the welcoming ceremony in a beautiful dress. Her adoptive mother has invited representatives from a foster home so she can send Dinky away, but her husband (who has been silent around his strident, unloving spouse) leaves in disgust and angrily tells her "I'm going find Dinky. I'm going to FIND OUR DAUGHTER." A limousine draws up, but a man gets out with a note of explanation: Roxy has not come back. Before the limousine can drive away, Dinky runs after it. Denton catches up with her and tells her the whole story (having realized the reason for Dinky's obsession with Roxy): although Roxy did have a baby, and did leave it with him, the baby died. Roxy is not Dinky's mother.
Left with nothing, Dinky is rescued by Gerald Howells, a popular boy who has become increasingly interested in her. At first, Dinky is suspicious of his interest, but the end of the film shows them together in a relationship where she finally holds the upper hand as things return to normal in the town.
pornographic, satire