There are several more story strands--and about 25 main characters--woven together into a fine tapestry of life in this corner of America, and Sayles adeptly captures the lazy flow of life in this kind of coastal community. Alas, this is the film's undoing, because it moves with so little energy or pace that it's hard to sustain interest over the course of nearly two and a half hours. Still, there are reasons to watch: Bassett and Steenburgen (as a community stalwart trying to build a sense of tradition) are particularly strong. There's a nicely tentative romance between Falco and Hutton (as a landscape developer). And every plot thread is full of meaning and insight. The issues the story touches on are powerful indeed, and they're handled with a wonderfully light touch that help draw us into each individual situation and see how they all delicately fit together. But as a film it's so lackluster that it feels like Sayles was directing in his sleep.