It's the 60s. Nuclear engineer Capt. Hank Marshall (Tommy Lee Jones) monitors radiation hazards in the Army. His wife Carly (Jessica Lange) is wild and flirtatious. They move with their daughters Alex (Amy Locane) and Becky from the South Pacific to Fort Matthews in Alabama. Hank works under Col. Vince Johnson (Powers Boothe) in underground nuclear testing. Alex starts dating the colonel's son Glenn (Chris O'Donnell). Two cowboys accidentally get irradiated from a test. Carly has an affair with Vince. Vince tricks her into committing Hank into the mental ward in an effort to hide the affair and the cowboys' irradiation.
Jessica Lange flirts between sexual napalm and utter madness. Despite the craziness, she has great chemistry with Tommy Lee Jones. It could easily go camp but she makes it perfectly believable. TLJ shows some real passion. The family is dysfunctional but their connection is undeniable. The other parts with the military and nuclear testing do seem a little weaker. In the end, this is all about Lange.
Jessica Lange flirts between sexual napalm and utter madness. Despite the craziness, she has great chemistry with Tommy Lee Jones. It could easily go camp but she makes it perfectly believable. TLJ shows some real passion. The family is dysfunctional but their connection is undeniable. The other parts with the military and nuclear testing do seem a little weaker. In the end, this is all about Lange.