Widowed beekeeper and Vietnam veteran Ulysses "Ulee" Jackson (Peter Fonda) raises his granddaughters because his son, Jimmy (Tom Wood), is in prison. When Jimmy finds out that his estranged wife, Helen (Christine Dunford), has gotten herself into trouble with a crew of drug dealers and has run away, he asks Ulee for help. Ulee begrudgingly agrees to find Helen. When he does, he must rely on the unexpected aid of a divorced nurse (Patricia Richardson) to get Helen through her withdrawal.