Swimmers (2005): Cast, Box Office & Plot

Set in a small waterfront town along coastal Maryland, Swimmers follows Emma Tyler, Tara Devon Gallagher, a fiercely intelligent and perceptive 11-year-old who starts the summer as a standout swimmer. In a vivid opening scene, she wears a red/navy one-piece swimsuit, a navy TCY swim cap, and goggles, dives from the starting block, and swims freestyle, only to confront an ear problem that will require surgery the family can ill afford. Emma’s father, Will Tyler, Robert Knott, drinks heavily and lives hand to mouth as a waterman, while her mother, Julia Tyler, Cherry Jones, has grown worn down trying to hold a fragile household together on meager funds and quietly suspects Will is having an affair.