Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) and his 10 year old son, Grant (Spencer Treat Clark) are both trying to come to terms with the loss two years earlier of Michael's wife, Grant's mother. When they befriend a family from across the road, things seem to get a little better for them. However, as the families become closer, Michael starts having misgivings about Oliver and Cheryl Lang (Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack), and begins investigating them. He soon realises that the Langs are definitely not who they claim to be. The film is a tense political psychological thriller with Michael uncovering more and more about the seemingly innocent family living opposite him on Arlington Road.