Housekeeping 1987

In 1950s northern Idaho, a quiet family tragedy unfolds along Lake Fingerbone. Helen, Margot Pinvidic, is a young mother who drives her car off a cliff into the lake, ending her life and sparking a change in who will raise Ruth and Lucille. For seven years, their grandmother figure, Sylvia, carries the responsibility until her own death, after which their great-aunts from Spokane—Lily and Nona—move in to care for the girls. The sisters quickly learn that their grandfather also died in a train wreck that plunged into Lake Fingerbone, a detail that casts a shadow over the family’s past and future.

As Lily and Nona struggle to adjust to the rural life, they bring in Helen’s drifter sister, Sylvie, to take a more hands-on role in Ruth and Lucille’s upbringing. Christine Lahti brings to life Sylvie’s many quirks and her uneasy relationship with social norms. Sylvie’s presence unsettles the household as she moves through the house with a recklessness that feels both free and dangerous. When the lake floods and the main floor becomes knee-deep in water, Sylvie treats the home as if it still belonged to a different world—one where rules bend and survival matters more than propriety.

Ruth and Lucille, already navigating adolescence, begin to push back against Sylvie’s unconventional methods. The sisters’ daily routines clash with the eccentric guardian’s insistence on a life that feels almost ritualistic to Ruth, who clings to a sense of normalcy she associates with her late mother and the distant, simpler times she longs for. On a day when Ruth and Lucille skip school, they witness Sylvie sauntering atop the trestle over the lake, gazing down as if daring something to pull her in. The image of Sylvie on the edge becomes a touchstone for Ruth, who starts to see her guardian as both protector and danger.

As tension grows, Sylvie reveals to Ruth that she hears voices and imagines children in the woods, a belief that further isolates Ruth from the world outside Fingerbone. Later, she leads Ruth to a forgotten, abandoned homestead and, together, they steal a boat to reach the shore. That night, Sylvie convinces Ruth that the train her father died on now lies beneath the water, and the two climb the trestle to hop onto a moving train, beginning a new, precarious chapter in town.

Back at school, Lucille pleads with Ruth to leave the house behind and seek a different life. Their situation attracts the notice of local authorities, and a sheriff arrives with three church ladies to check on Ruth. Despite Sylvie’s attempts to clean the house and present a veneer of normalcy, the investigators see the stockpiles of newspapers and trash and conclude that Sylvie remains an unsuitable guardian for Ruth. The tension crescendos as a weary Sylvie stays up all night trying to restore order, setting the stage for a drastic confrontation.

A late-night visit from the sheriff tests Sylvie’s control, and while he urges Ruth to come with him, his efforts falter. In the aftermath, Sylvie and Ruth secretly burn Sylvie’s vast newspaper collection and — in a decision that seals their bond and their fate — begin to cast off Fingerbone’s shadows. The pair walk the trestle together at dawn and depart Fingerbone for a new life, choosing a path that will forever shape who Ruth becomes.

• Ruth, Sara Walker — the teenager at the story’s center, whose loyalties and resilience anchor the narrative.

• Lucille, Andrea Burchill — Ruth’s sister, whose own experiences with home and school push her toward independence.

• Sylvie, Christine Lahti — Helen’s drifter sister who takes charge of Ruth and Lucille with an unorthodox, often unsettling approach.

• Lily, Anne Pitoniak — one of the great-aunts who helps raise the girls and guardianship’s new stage.

• Nona, Barbara Reese — Lily’s sister and fellow guardian, who brings a different tone to their care.

• Helen, Margot Pinvidic — Ruth and Lucille’s mother, whose suicide sets this chain of events in motion.

• Grandmother, Georgie Collins — the older relative who anchors a dispersed family network across Fingerbone and beyond.

• Sheriff, Bill Smillie — the lawman who checks in on the household during the escalating concerns.

• Deputy Sheriff, Brian Linds — assisting in the unfolding visitations and investigations that punctuate the community’s response.