Bessie (Diane Keaton) is a sensitive, middle-aged woman who has sacrificed her life to look after her long-suffering father Marvin (Hume Cronyn) and eccentric aunt (Gwen Verdon). Her younger sister Lee (Meryl Streep), selfishly shirked such responsibilities, left home, married and had two kids (Leonardo DiCaprio and Hal Scardino). The marked differences between the two have been meant that neither sister has been in contact for two decades. But now Bessie has been diagnosed with leukemia and her survival may depend on bone-marrow from the sister she had long since erased from her life.