Peter Hedges

"Just about everything in Endora, Iowa (pop. 1,091 and dwindling) is eating Gilbert Grape, a twenty-four-year-old grocery clerk who dreams only of leaving. His enormous mother, once the town sweetheart, has been eating nonstop ever since her husband's suicide, and the floor beneath her TV chair is threatening to cave in. Gilbert's long-suffering older sister, Amy, still mourns the death of Elvis, and his knockout younger sister has become hooked on...

Kate and Tim tell the story of their practically perfect life (he's a history teacher in a posh private school; she's a stay-at-home mom) in alternating chapters. Brooklyn Heights, their neighborhood, rife with social strata, rules, and conventions, is rocked by a newcomer, Anna Brody, the beautiful, mysterious wife of a very wealthy man who latches onto the couple. Then, when opportunities impel Kate back to work, Tim becomes the at-home parent,...

Gilbert lives in Endora, a place where nothing happens. Aside from a secret affair with a housewife, Gilbert spends his days stocking shelves at a grocery store, caring for his mentally handicapped brother, and holding together a large family headed by Mama, a former beauty queen whose weight tops 500 pounds. But just when Gilbert thinks nothing with ever change, a pretty stranger arrives on the scene, capturing Gilbert's heart and inspiring him to...

When a childless couple buries a box with all of their wishes for an infant in their backyard, their wishes are granted. However, their child, Timothy Green, is not all that he appears.

Dan Burns is a local newspaper advice columnist. He is a widower with three daughters. He brings the family to his parent's house for a family gathering. When Dan goes to a local bookstore, he meets Marie. When he gets home, he finds out that Marie is actually dating his brother Mitch. Dan's mother Nana announces that she met an old acquaintance of Dan's, Ruthie Draper and that she has set up a date between Dan and Ruthie. Dan refuses to go. Mitch...

Will is a good-looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is to avoid any kind of responsibility. So he decides to invent an imaginary son in order to meet attractive single moms. Will gets a lesson about life from a bright but hopelessly geeky 12-year-old named Marcus. Now, as Will struggles to teach Marcus the art of being cool, Marcus teaches Will that you are never too cool to grow up.