Just Between Friends 1986

Holly Davis, Mary Tyler Moore is a wife and mother, happily married to seismologist Chip Davis, Ted Danson. She lives a warm family life, completely unaware that Chip is having an affair with Sandy Dunlap, Christine Lahti, a driven television news reporter who once interviewed him after a powerful earthquake.

Holly starts teaching aerobics part-time at a local gym, and by chance she and Sandy meet. Their meeting blossoms into a close friendship, and Holly’s children take to Sandy as well. Sandy, meanwhile, is focused on climbing the ladder in television, hoping to become an anchorwoman. The two women grow inseparable, and Holly invites Sandy to a dinner at her home. It’s at that dinner that Sandy realizes her married boyfriend is Holly’s husband. Sandy tells Chip it’s over, but he pleads for a chance to talk after his upcoming trip.

Tragedy strikes when a news bulletin announces Chip’s death in a car crash. Holly is devastated, and so too is Sandy, who now faces a life without the man she loved. Helga, the gym’s owner, is ready to sell, so Sandy and Holly decide to invest together and keep the gym in operation. While clearing out Chip’s office, Holly discovers a photo of Sandy with Chip, a painful reminder of the betrayal. She confronts Sandy, who explains that she only realized, at the dinner party, that her new friend was the wife of the man she loved. After that revelation, Sandy ends their close friendship.

Sandy begs for forgiveness, but Holly is crushed, hurt, and reluctant to forgive. As time passes, she begins to see that Sandy’s baby will also be Chip’s child, which gradually opens the door to forgiveness and the possibility of a shared life with the child. Harry Crandall, Sam Waterston, Chip’s co-worker, helps Sandy through her pregnancy and has long harbored feelings for Holly. He also observes Holly’s lingering ache for the life she had, adding another layer to the emotional mix.

Sandy initially resists Holly’s attempts to renew their friendship, but when the baby is born, the two women start to mend their bond. The story moves toward a hopeful turn as they slowly rebuild trust, and in a quiet, charged moment, Harry kisses Holly, signaling a new, fragile peace and the possibility of a future where pain can give way to reconciliation. Helga’s earlier ambition to sell the gym remains a distant memory as the two women choose a shared path forward, balancing memory, loss, and the chance for renewed connection.