His life was emotionally closed off from the world, until an orphaned baby showed up at his house.
Michael McCann is a man who feels totally betrayed by the world, after his wife revealed to him that their child was not his. A few years after his break-up we find him living alone in a small town. But, everything in his miserable life changes when he adopts a little girl whose mother died outside his house. After several years, the real father returns to claim the girl from Michael, thinking that she will be an advantage for his political career.—Chris Makrozahopoulos <[email protected]>
When Michael McCann is thrown over by the woman he loves, he becomes something of a misanthrope and a miser, spending all of his spare money on collectible gold coins. Living in the same town is an affluent family with two sons: John and Tanny. Tanny's a wild boy, whom John cannot control, and one night he breaks into McCann's house, and steals the gold and disappears, which nearly confirms McCann's distrust of mankind. But then, a mysterious young woman dies in the snow outside McCann's house, and her small daughter makes her way to McCann's house and into McCann's life and heart. He names her Matilda, and raises her, finding companionship and a new joy in life with his adopted daughter. But the secret of Matilda's birth may tear them apart.—Kathy Li
It is 1979. In Washington DC, high school music teacher Michael McCann (Steve Martin) discovers his wife Elaine (Carolyn McCormick) is pregnant by another man. Elaine breaks the news to Michael while serving him the results of a genetic test she had performed at the school. Michael wanted to name his daughter Mathilda.A fellow teacher at school had once told Michael to invest in Gold. He argues that Gold always appreciated in value and by the time the kid grew up they could afford to buy a car with a single gold coin.
The couple divorce and five years later Michael retreats into a life of solitude as a maker of finely crafted furniture in rural Virginia.Michael's only companion is a valuable collection of gold coins which he keeps inside a hidden compartment inside his study table. Michael goes into town every week and buys a single gold coin with the money he earns. April Simon is the store-owner who sells him the coins. Michael says that Gold is there when you need it.The whole town sees Michael go into the shop every week. The town folks resent Michael as he keeps to himself all the time. The scuttlebutt is that Michael doesn't own a bank account and keeps all of his money at home.
John is a young and upcoming politician with a bright future. Tanny is his brother. John is under pressure from his campaign contributors about Tanny's reputation, and who had caused considerable embarrassment to John during his campaign for the State Elections. John was unable to control Tanny as he knew his secrets and threatened to spill them every time John confronted him.Tanny is shown to give cash to a woman with a small child. The woman is a drug addict. It is indicated that the young toddler is the illegitimate child of John, whom he wants to be kept secret. This is the sword that Tanny keeps on John to get what he wants.
Michael's heart is hurt again when Tanny Newland (Stephen Baldwin), the unsavory younger brother of politician John Newland (Gabriel Byrne), crashes his brother's car outside the woods surrounding Michael's house. Desperate to recoup the loss of the car, Tanny steals Michael's coins while he is sleeping (Tanny finds the secret compartment as Michael was drunk and forgot to close it properly) and takes off into the night and is never seen again.Michael had no insurance for his coins. A case of theft is registered against Tanny for a collection of Gold coins.
With Tanny missing, the woman is no longer getting the cash. She decides to meet John directly at a fundraiser event that he is hosting for his upcoming campaign.Shortly after, in the middle of a winter storm, Michael is startled to discover a toddler has wandered into his home while he was outside gathering wood. A short distance from his house he discovers the body of her mother, a heroin addict whose car had run out of gas nearby.
Unbeknownst to him, the child is the illegitimate daughter of John Newland, who participates in the investigation but keeps his relationship to the little girl a secret in order to protect his political career.As an elected official of the town, John is involved in the decision making around the future of the child. John wants the child to be given to child welfare services, but there would be no way of knowing where she ends up.Michael says that he is alone, and the child is also alone. He is permitted to adopt the child (as Michael works from home, he doesn't have to go to work) and christens her Mathilda (Alana Austin).She proves to be a bit of a handful in her early years, but with the help of friend and local shopkeeper April Simon (Catherine O'Hara), Michael manages to raise her to be a bright, personable, precocious young lady.The once sour, lonely man is transformed by her presence.
As John Newland watches his daughter grow older, he begins to invite her to join him and his wife Nancy (Laura Linney) in their home and arranges for her to learn to ride a horse, eventually giving her one of her own.
Nancy has suffered two miscarriages and wants to adopt a child, but John resists and finally reveals Mathilda's true identity, and his desire to adopt Mathilda properly. Nancy encourages him to gain custody of the girl, and a trial ensues.Although the lawyer tries to manipulate the court and Mathilda herself to see that the Newlands are the better parents, Mathilda herself still refuses and honestly prefers Michael.
The judge is inclined to side with the Newlands, given their wealth and ability to provide Mathilda with advantages she never would have with Michael, including the Newlands' lawyer's unfriendly and partly fabricated prosecution regarding Michael's divorce.
Then the remains of Tanny Newland - surrounded by the gold coins he had stolen from Michael - are found at the bottom of a quarry his brother was draining to create a lake surrounded by prime real estate he planned to sell for a tidy profit.
Michael's sudden return to wealth (and the judge's private implication to John that he believes John killed his brother) turns the tide in his favor, and it is decided Mathilda will remain with him. Mathilda visits her late mother's grave.
