In 1995, Dolores Claiborn (Kathy Bates) is a domestic servant for an elderly paralyzed woman named Vera Donovan (Judy Parfitt), who lives in a mansion on Little Tall Island, Maine. One afternoon, they struggle, and Vera falls down the stairs. The mailman finds Dolores standing over Vera with a rolling pin in her hand. When Vera dies, the police begin a murder investigation.
Her estranged daughter, Selena St. George (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a successful New York City journalist suffering from depression and substance abuse. She arrives in town and though not convinced about her mother’s innocence, she tries to support her. Dolores insists she did not kill Vera but the whole town believes she killed her husband Joe St. George (David Strathairn) 18 years before. Detective John Mackey (Christopher Plummer) is determined to put her in prison because that old case was the only one he ever lost.
In 1975, Joe was an abusive alcoholic who was secretly abusing the 14-year-old Selena (Ellen Muth). Dolores was working to save for Selena’s education and when she discovered that Selena was being molested, she went to the bank to finance their escape and found that Joe had taken the money. The bank, of course, let him do it. Dolores confided in Vera and Vera confided that her own husband, who ostensibly died in an accident, had actually been killed by Vera, which she engineered like an accident. Vera and Dolores bond over the secret.
Dolores told the police that Vera threw herself down the stairs to commit suicide and then begged Dolores to put her out of her misery. Detective Mackey does not believe that because Vera left all her money to Dolores. Dolores says she did not know that. Dolores and Selena argue about Joe’s abuse, which Selena has always denied, and Selena abandons her.
A flashback reveals that when Dolores came home one day, she told Joe, who was drunk, that she knew about him molesting their daughter and him stealing the money. She provoked him into a rage and led him to fall down a well, then left him to die. Selena hears this on a tape left by Dolores. Leaving on the ferry, Selena suddenly remembers, in a powerful and horrible scene, being molested when she was five years old (Taffara Jessica Stela Murray). She races back to support Dolores during the coroner’s inquest.
Mackay makes a case for the Grand Jury to indict Dolores for murder. Selena arrives and accuses him of indulging in a personal vendetta. She says Vera and Dolores loved each other. He reluctantly drops the charges. Dolores and Selina reconcile on the ferry.
The film was directed by Taylor Hackford from a screenplay by Tony Gilroy based on the 1992 novel by Stephen King. It was shot in Nova Scotia in 1994 and was a sleeper hit. It was well received by critics, who particularly praised Bates and Leigh. The book had been the bestselling work of King in 1992. There were a few hitches. Gilroy neglected to get King’s permission for the script changes. They could not find Little Tall Island until King told them it was imaginary. And Christopher Plummer was supposed to be a dishevelled cop, but he showed up every day looking like something out of GQ Magazine, until he drew a scar on his face with makeup, which made him look a bit scraggly.
The film was called a melodrama based on repression of childhood trauma. Scenes in the present are ashen and grainy; the flashbacks are bright with memory. It received 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert said it was a horror story after all, but based on everyday horrors such as alcoholism, wife-beating, and child-abuse. Bates and Leigh were nominated for Best Actress at the Saturn Awards, but the film was largely ignored by the Oscars.