Maybe the idea was to make this into a TV series? As is, we have hints of an interesting, unusual female lead. Her marriage has broken up and she doesn't know why. She is sensitive and headstrong. Annabeth Gish lends her radiance and believability to the role, but the script does not find the time to develop it much. The other characters are even sketchier. The standard precocious kid, the standard Mister Right, and the standard wise and avuncular nestor figure.
Gish's character goes to work in a halfway house with seven patients, but somehow she seems to have all her time free for a certain one of them. His mental state is unpredictable but always conveniently suitable for the demands of the plot. Similarly, the kid is mature or immature as the script demands. Both of them come out with sudden bursts of wisdom that haven't had time to develop. With more length, the plot and characters could have been presented more realistically. But Gish in particular sells the movie anyway. Ethan Embry as the patient plays the part well moment by moment, but he can't bring consistency to the patient's inconsistently written condition.
