The two women, Stella (Olympia Dukakis) the butchy one, and Dot (Brenda Fricker) the gentler female, live together in Maine. Stella is brassy, drinks and swears. Dot is more of a homebody and is slowly losing her vision, making her pretty dependent on Stella although they are both in their 70s. Dot's granddaughter doesn't like that her grandmother's quality of life is not good (she apparently has no real knowledge of what a real lesbian is like and doesn't see the signs that her grandmother is one; she believes the pair are just good friends). The granddaughter tricks Dot into signing over power of attorney, then puts her into a senior home.
Stella is incensed and breaks Dot out of the home, then remembers she read somewhere that gays can get married in Canada. They go on the road and, suspecting the police are after them, pick up a young hitchhiker to change their M.O., even taking him home to see his sickly mother, and eventually he helps Stella and Dot also.
While this is a story with good dramatic bones, some of Stella's loud character overshadows that of Dot, who doesn't have much of a personality other than being a blind woman dependent on Stella and pretty accepting of her life throughout the film. And aspects such as the granddaughter oblivious to her grandmother's gayness and some other flamboyant comedy detracts from the message of an older couple in love (involving full front male monty--poor Brenda Fricker had her head up his junk in a comedy bit when she gets into a bed thinking it is empty). Also I think the movie was playing both sides of the gay audience by picking a hot male actor for the hitchhiker and including the comedic scene with a naked male.
If the tone of this film and its characters were a bit more smoothed out and balanced, it would be a better film.
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