Empire Falls (2005)

Danielle Panabaker, Paul Newman, and Ed Harris in Empire Falls. (Photo: HBO)

Starring: Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Hunt

Miles Roby is the proprieter of the local diner, Empire Grill, where everyone gathers in the once prosperous mill town of Empire Falls. Divorced with a teenage daughter, Miles comes to a crossroads in his life where the past of this sleepy, New England town catches up with the present to make clear old, ugly secrets. As he struggles with the legacy of the generations before him, Miles must deal with his alcoholic father, an ex-wife who has taken up with an aging health club entrepreneur, a woman whose love he will never return and a brother suspected of dealing marijuana. Hovering above them all is the wealthy, controlling Francine Whiting, who owns half the town.