America in the 1980s

President Carter: As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government, for schools, the news media and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance. But it is the truth and it is a warning. It is a crisis of confidence. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself involved in a search for freedom. We are at a turning point in our history. The path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom. It is a certain route to failure. Thank you and good night.

Dorothea's Dinner Guest: Wow. He is so screwed.

Dorothea's Dinner Guest: No shit.

Dorothea's Dinner Guest: It's over for him.

Dorothea: I thought that was beautiful.

Jamie: I thought that was just the beginning of a new relationship with her, where she'd really tell me stuff. But maybe it was never really like that again. Maybe that was it.

Dorothea: In March of 1999, I'll start to feel tired and confused. When I finally go to the doctor, he will say that the cancer in my lungs had already travelled to my breast and brain. I'll try to teach Jamie what to do with my stocks, but my instructions will be impossible to understand.

Julie: Abbie will take me to Planned Parenthood. And I will go on the pill. I will go to NYU and lose touch with Jamie and Dorothea, and I will stop talking to my mom, I will fall in love with Nicholas, we will move to Paris, and choose not to have children.

Abbie: I will stay in Santa Barbara. In just two years, I'll marry Dave. A month after I get married Carlotta will die. A week later, Max will die too. I will work out of my garage and show in local galleries. Against my doctor's advice, I will get pregnant, and by the time I'm thirty I'll have two boys.

William: I'll live with Dorothea for another year. Then I'll open a pottery store in Sedona Arizona. I will marry Laurie, a singer-songwriter. We'll get divorced in a year. Then I'll meet Sandy, we will marry, and I will continue to do my pottery.

Jamie: My mom will meet Jim in 1983, they'll be a couple until she dies. On her birthday each year, he will buy her a trip on a biplane. Years after she's gone I'll finally get married and have a son. I'll try to explain to him what his grandmother was like - but it will be impossible.