Shred Sisters

Courtney invites Amy to brunch and tells her that she and Marc are seeing each other. While Amy is not entirely surprised, she is still hurt. She realizes that Courtney told Marc about Josh’s visit the night before her and Marc’s wedding. This betrayal bothers her the most. She thinks of Ollie trying to lead her along the skating rink, calling her “inchworm” as she carefully made her way around.

Amy meets an academic named TJ at a conference. At first, she expresses interest only in his work on empathy, signing him to a contract with her publishing firm. However, she cannot deny her attraction to him, even though he is married, and after editing the book together, they begin an affair. TJ’s book receives a great deal of attention; he is booked for appearances on national television. TJ’s wife contacts Amy, notifying her that she is aware of their affair—Amy is not TJ’s only indiscretion—but that he always returns to his home and his daughter.

Nevertheless, Amy continues the affair. She also begins swimming every day, making new friends. Courtney contacts Amy during this time to let her know that she and Marc are getting married. She wants them all to be friends, so Amy reluctantly meets with Marc. Amy forces him to admit that he and Courtney began their affair before he was divorced from Amy. They part in anger. Shortly thereafter, Amy breaks off the affair with TJ.

Amy gets a call about her mother: She fell at the art museum where she volunteers as a docent. Tests reveal that she has an inoperable brain tumor, and she immediately opts for hospice care. Amy calls Dad, but he does not visit.

Amy stays at her mother’s condo to be closer to her and tries to do everything she asks. Ollie comes, too, and the two sisters keep by their mother’s side. Mom worries about her daughters, and they say that they will take care of each other. Amy wonders why this conversation—of who might care for Ollie after their parents are gone—never came up.

Hunt attends the funeral, as do Marc and Courtney. A slide show in the background shows old pictures of the Shreds as a family. Amy visits Mom’s “man-friend,” as she preferred calling him, once after the funeral. The man, Sid, is already with another woman, but he gives Amy folders containing her and Ollie’s old report cards, along with the neon sign for Ollie’s failed business.

Amy becomes friendly with Josh again. She is lonely after her mother’s passing, and he provides company—though his behavior is often more impulsive than before. Amy helps him rent a car to attend his father’s birthday party, but she discovers that he went to the casinos instead. Eventually, he reveals that he has been using meth. She refuses to let him stay at her place or loan him any more money until he shows up outside her building. He is clearly very sick, and Amy decides to get him into rehab.

On the way to the facility, they get married so that Josh can utilize Amy’s insurance. When they arrive there, Amy discovers that Josh has been using every time they stopped for bathroom breaks. He nods off while Amy fills in the details of his history for the intake nurse.

When she returns home, she wants to call her mother. Remembering, again, that she cannot, she instead looks through the folders that Sid gave her. Behind Ollie’s report cards, there are psychiatric assessments with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. She also finds the reports from Dr. Lucie, who diagnosed Ollie with bipolar I and suggested that she would find success with the medication lithium. Amy wonders why Dr. Lucie’s treatment plan was not followed.

When Amy goes back to work—she took time off to take Josh to rehab—she finds that her assistant has reported her to Human Resources. Amy will have to attend mandatory counseling to deal with her communication issues; the report will remain in her work file.

That weekend, the rehab facility calls to tell her that Josh has died. The autopsy report reveals that he had both heroin and methamphetamine in his system. She remembers the last time she saw him, at a family therapy session. They cried together and professed their love.

Ollie discovers that she is pregnant. The family hopes that the father is Hunt, though Ollie has refused his proposal of marriage. Amy flies out to talk to Hunt, and he admits that he did some rash things after Ollie’s rejection—including marrying someone else (briefly). Amy tells him about the baby, and he asks if the child is his. It is possible, but nobody knows for sure.

Meanwhile, Ollie is living with Dad and working at Juice World. When she is promoted to assistant manager, Amy worries about her having access to the register. Dad dismisses her concerns, and Anita attends Lamaze classes with Ollie. Ollie confides in Amy that she is still unsure whether she wants the baby or not.

Amy flies in the week before the baby is due. Ollie wants Amy, not Anita, to assist her in the delivery room. Amy is resentful—Ollie was not present for any of Amy’s milestones—and worried for the baby. Yet she agrees to be the baby’s guardian and helps Ollie in the delivery room. Ollie names the baby Raine, after her and Amy’s mother, Lorraine.

Amy visits Josh’s grave, feeling guilty for taking him to rehab. Afterward, Josh’s mother welcomes her for lunch and gives her a bag of leftovers and some of Josh’s things to take home. Josh’s father drives her to the train station, and he cannot help but criticize his son, even in death. Amy refuses to speak to him. When she returns home, she puts on Josh’s old leather jacket, which his mother gave her.

Amy’s father has a stroke—his second, the first having occurred just after Raine’s birth—and she flies back down to Florida. Ollie does not believe that he will die, but he passes away the night before she arrives. The sisters have to pick out an appropriate dress for her to wear to the funeral; Ollie pays, and Amy expresses surprise. Ollie claims that she no longer feels compelled to shoplift, and Amy decides to tentatively trust her.

After the funeral, Amy learns that her father’s estate will be divided unevenly between her and Ollie, with Ollie receiving the larger share. Anita volunteers that this is because Amy does not have children, though Amy believes it is because Anita does not like her as much. Amy intuited their affair before Dad was divorced.

Hunt decides to raise Raine as his own—no paternity test required. He claims that Raine has saved Ollie’s life. Though she experienced a severe case of postpartum depression, she is now calmer and devoted to the baby. In dealing with her depression, she connected with a psychiatrist who prescribed medication that Ollie promised to take for the sake of the baby. Two years later, when Amy attends Raine’s birthday party, she realizes that the three are now a family.

Amy enjoys her role as an aunt, and she and Ollie forge a new chapter in their relationship. When Raine asks for Amy to tuck her into bed at night, Amy fights back tears.

Kira has asked Amy to be one of her bridesmaids. Arjun has forgiven her, and what Kira calls her “re-arranged marriage” is an elaborate affair. Amy meets a wide variety of professionally accomplished and personally interesting women; she feels like she is in her element at last. She meets Ravi, someone with whom Kira wanted to set Amy up, and they share a piece of wedding cake. Kira reminds her that forgiveness, especially of oneself, is key.

Amy decides that her time in therapy has come to an end. At this point, her therapist has been “the most consistent person in [her] life” (264). He accepts her decision, telling her that she has worked hard. He hugs her at the end of their last session. Amy realizes that she will choose her own path forward from now on.