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Beth and Calvin Jarrett (Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland) return home from seeing a play. Their son, Conrad (Timothy Hutton), is home in bed, lying in bed but wide awake. When his parents knock on his bedroom door, he rushes to pretend he's reading and says he's fine. Calvin mentions it's been a month since Conrad returned home so maybe it's time to call a doctor, but Conrad says there's no need. Calvin does his best to connect with Conrad, but it's difficult because even though Conrad says he's fine, there is something on his mind. This is proven with several flashbacks he has, oftentimes distracted while in the car or at school, or even waking up from nightmares. The Jarretts are all trying to return to normal life, but an accidental death of older son Buck and the subsequent suicide attempt by Conrad (which led to him being institutionalized, and that's where he came home from a month ago) have made it an uncomfortable process for all.
Conrad finally decides to call the doctor he was referred to, and he does so from school so his parents don't know about it. Conrad calls Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch), and during the initial visit Conrad explains how he and Buck were involved in a sailing accident that killed Buck. However, Conrad answers most of the questions with the likes of "I have no problems," and Dr. Berger counters that wondering why he's there then. Conrad says he wants to be more in control of himself so people will stop worrying about him all the time. They decide to meet twice weekly for therapy.
At home that evening, Conrad tells his parents that he saw Dr. Berger. Calvin is pleased, but Beth doesn't seem to be. There's a constant awkwardness between Beth and Conrad, as Beth seems to want to just forget everything that happened and keep up appearances of everything being fine. Beth wants to go on a holiday, but Calvin doesn't want them to all go anywhere right now since that would interrupt Conrad's visits with Berger. Calvin and Beth head out to a social gathering, and Beth overhears Calvin talking about Conrad and his doctor. She comes over and plays it up like she needs to talk to Calvin. While driving home after the event ends, Beth is livid that Calvin was talking about Conrad seeing a doctor.
On his next visit to Berger, Conrad asks for medication. Berger asks why. Conrad doesn't really have an answer, he just thinks he needs it. He also says he may quit the swimming team because he's having trouble focusing, and he feels like the swim coach has him under a microscope. While heading home, Conrad sees Karen (Dinah Manoff), who befriended him while they were both in the psych hospital. They're very happy to see each other, and they go for a soda. He asks if she's been seeing a doctor. She says she was, but no longer is because she realized only she can help herself. Conrad says at times he misses the hospital. Karen seems to be a bit forgetful (repeating items from a few minutes earlier as if it were a new topic) but very positive about things.
When Conrad returns home, another awkward round of attempted normalcy occurs between he and Beth. Conrad brings this and other recent conversations between he and his mother as ammo for his next visit to Berger, saying they don't connect. Berger tries to figure out why based on the information Conrad is giving him. Conrad also does make the decision to indeed quit the swim team. His coach seems pretty flippant towards it. Some of Conrad's friends also begin to tire of his mood swings since he's taking out his anger on them. Fortunately, Conrad finally makes a breakthrough on his next visit to Berger, as the doctor gets him to lash out about his anger. Berger says it's not good to hold it in, because that doesn't allow the problems to be known and solved.
We're coming closer to the holiday season, and the Jarretts are with Beth's parents taking photos. Calvin wants to get a picture of Beth and Conrad together, but Beth tries to talk her way out of it, saying she REALLY wants a shot of Calvin and Conrad together. They go back and forth for awhile until Conrad explodes, yelling for Calvin to give her the camera. He then leaves the room. Later in the kitchen, Beth and her mom discuss Conrad, and they wonder if maybe he should go away to school somewhere to be able to start a new life.
Conrad begins to build a friendship with Jeannine (Elizabeth McGovern), as they are both in the school chorus. Some flirting takes place, and that night Conrad makes two phone calls. The first is to check up on his friend Karen, but his call to her mother is unsuccessful as he's told she's not home. The second call is to Jeannine, and he awkwardly but successfully asks her out on a date. Conrad then goes into the family room, and he and Calvin are setting up the Christmas tree. Beth comes home and is enraged that she just found out Conrad quit the swimming team from someone else. Beth and Conrad get into a heated argument with Conrad saying she's only pissed off since someone else knew something before she did. The argument gets worse as Conrad points out that Beth never visited him in the hospital, but she sure would have visited Buck if it were him. Beth retorts that Buck never would have been in the hospital.
Conrad discusses this blowup with Berger and by the time they finish, he realizes he isn't sure if it's his mother that can't forgive him for Buck's death, even though it was accidental, or vice versa. Berger says he should give himself a break. Calvin then visits Berger separately, more of a social visit that turns into somewhat of a psychiatric session, and Calvin is concerned that Conrad and Beth are drifting away from him. He sees Beth unable to forgive Conrad, and also it seemed she gave such a large amount of affection to Buck over Conrad when both sons were alive. Calvin goes home and wants to talk to Beth about Buck's funeral. Beth doesn't want to dig up that old memory, but Calvin can't get over the fact that the thing that seemed to bother her most when they were going to that funeral was what Calvin was wearing. Calvin thinks the entire family should see Dr. Berger, but Beth thinks that's ridiculous and they don't need to do such a thing. Beth's idea to "fix things" is for her and Calvin to spend New Year's Eve in Houston with her brother's family, while Conrad stays with her parents (who have already gotten on board with the idea). Ultimately, they do go to Houston.
Conrad and Jeannine go bowling, and they have fun even though neither of them are any good at it. Afterwards they go to McDonald's, and Conrad confides in Jeannine, telling her of his suicide attempt. Some other high schoolers come in and make a joking scene, even putting a McHat on Jeannine. She laughs and plays along, but Conrad just sulks. His demeanor changes, and they head home. The next day at school, Conrad gets into a fistfight with one of his friends. After they're broken up, another mutual friend of theirs says that Conrad needs to let his friends help him with whatever's bothering him. Conrad goes home (staying with his grandparents) that evening and tries to call Karen again, but is told that Karen killed herself. Conrad is now at end of his emotional rope, and he runs out into the streets and calls Dr. Berger, saying even though it's late he has to see him now. Berger comes to the office where Conrad is waiting for him. Finally, Conrad details what happened in full the night of the sailing accident. Buck and Conrad were sailing when they encountered a storm. Conrad was supposed to pull a lever, but it jammed. Later when the boat was capsized, Buck was holding onto Conrad but the grip slipped, and Buck went under. Conrad blames himself, saying they were screwing around and went too far out into the sea. Conrad now is simply suffering from "survivor's guilt", and Berger finally asks him what exactly he did wrong. What was the one thing he did wrong? Conrad thinks and then says, "I hung on." He realizes now he's not at fault, and hugs Berger, thanking him for being a doctor and a friend.
Conrad goes to see Jeannine, and both of them apologize, her for laughing at the rowdy group and him for...well, pretty much everything else. They book a second date, and she invites him inside for breakfast. Meanwhile in Houston, everyone is golfing and Beth talks where their next vacation should be. She brings up Pine Hurst in South Carolina, and Calvin says that Conrad would like that one. Beth comes back asking if Calvin does that deliberately, bringing up Conrad's name to bring her down. A huge argument ensues, and both Beth and Calvin are practically silent on the plane ride home.
When Conrad sees his parents back at home, he tells them both he's really glad to see them. He even hugs Beth, but she just sits there like a statue, emotionless. Calvin, that night, emotionally confronts Beth one final time, questioning their love and whether she is capable of loving anyone at all. Beth has no response. She simply packs a bag and flees when Calvin and Conrad are not around. A final scene between Calvin and Conrad see them both begin to adapt to their new family situation, with Conrad telling Calvin he should yell at him once in a while instead of tiptoeing around him. They both come to terms and hug.
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A lot of debuts took place here. In addition to this being Redford's directorial debut, it was the acting debut for Hutton and McGovern, and the film debut (outside of uncredited bit parts) for Hirsch. While Mary Tyler Moore had already been a very established star at this point, most notably from 1960's and 1970's TV sitcoms, this role was written with her specifically in mind, and has her playing very against type. She is incredible as the cold-hearted mother, and scored a well-deserved Academy Award nomination. However, it was a strong year for actresses and their performances, and Sissy Spacek took home the award for Coal Miner's Daughter. Hirsch and Hutton both scored Supporting Actor nominations, with Hutton winning. Sutherland won the Golden Globe for his performance but was not nominated for an Oscar, an omission considered one of the most egregious acting snubs in history.
Ordinary People scored a total of six nominations, winning four. Moore lost out in her category, and Hirsch lost out in his but saw co-star Hutton win that one. The other wins came for Adapted Screenplay (Alvin Sargent), Director (Redford) and Best Picture, with that top award besting Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull and Tess. An excellent character study that is successful in tackling delicate subject material, in what was a pretty strong year of Best Picture contenders, Ordinary People proved to be the strongest to the voters. I'm inclined to agree.
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