Plot

An emotionally remote recovering alcoholic and his dowdy, unambitious wife face a personal crisis when they take in an attractive lodger.

For two decades Doc and Lola Delaney avoided coming to terms with what Doc considered a "shot gun" marriage. Lola lost the baby and gives a lot of her affection to Sheba, a dog that disappeared a few months before the film opens. Doc blames Lola for having to drop out of medical school and not becoming a "real" doctor. Until joining AA a year ago, his escape was alcohol. Then college student Marie rents a room in their home. Doc feels passion for the first time in 20 years. But Marie has two suitors her age. Lola -- unaware of Doc's emotions --becomes as interested in Marie's future as if Marie were her daughter.—Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>

Middle aged Doc and Lola Delaney have been married for twenty years. Their life together started out with so much promise, but their marriage has not become what that promise held. Doc, a chiropractor, was to become a full fledged medical doctor, but had to drop out of medical school when they got married. And Lola, once beautiful, has let her looks go. Now, she lies around the house not doing much of anything except listen to music on the radio. Because of the many stresses in their life, Doc became an alcoholic. Now attending AA meetings, he has just celebrated his one year AA birthday. Into their life comes university student Marie Buckholder to who they have rented out their sitting room. In so many different ways, Marie ends up being a reminder for Doc of what potential was lost in his and Lola's life, especially in that Marie is cavorting with a local jock named Turk Fisher who only has sex on his mind (which Marie deep down is aware), all the while while having a steady boyfriend named Bruce Cunningham back home who she plans to marry. These reminders of Doc's failed dreams, especially with Lola being the way she is, may be too much for him to handle.—Huggo

A movie version of the play by William Inge, COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA is the story of "Doc" and "Lola" Delaney -- a sadly aging couple whose attention seems drawn undistractably to lost dreams and failed ambitions. A grim and cold recovering alcoholic, Doc seems only able to numb the pain of his black-and-white existence with drink. Lola, on the other hand, desperate for warmth and affection, still longs for the little lost dog named "Sheba" missing for nearly a year which had provided her so much companionship and joy. Into this mix comes Marie, a carefree young co-ed happily dabbling at love and romance. When she rents a room from the Delaneys, their home is suddenly inhabited with the ghosts of their own failings -- Doc's professional failings, Lola's failings as a wife and mother, and the shared failings of their marriage.—Mark Fleetwood <mfleetwo@mail.coin.missouri.edu>