film / 1999
The Cider House Rules
The film follows Homer from St. Cloud's to Ocean View as love, work, and moral choice become impossible to separate.
Verified facts
- Runtime
- 2h 6m
- Director
- Lasse Hallstrom
- Released
- 1999
- Based on
- The Cider House Rules
PlotGeeks explainer signals
Why read this explainer
Homer can leave Dr. Larch's household without leaving behind the knowledge learned there. Rose's crisis asks what he will do with it.
PlotGeeks note
Homer's return makes care a role he accepts after testing another life. Dr. Larch's death changes who must take responsibility for the orphanage.
Connected knowledge
Connected in PlotGeeks
Related explainers and browse pages for The Cider House Rules.
- Compare with The Cider House Rules (1985 book)
Compare what changes between the 1985 book and the 1999 film.
Timeline
Major events
- An orphanage apprenticeship
Larch trains Homer in medical work.
- Life at the orchard
Homer leaves and becomes involved with Candy.
- Rose needs help
Her pregnancy forces him to reconsider his refusal.
- Homer returns
Larch's death brings him back to St. Cloud's.
Story in 60 Seconds
The short version
Homer Wells grows up at St. Cloud's orphanage, where Dr. Larch teaches him obstetrics despite his lack of formal schooling. Homer refuses to perform abortions and leaves to see the world beyond the institution. At an apple orchard he works alongside migrant laborers and begins an affair with Candy while her boyfriend Wally is away at war. Discovering that Rose is pregnant by her father brings his medical knowledge into a situation his fixed refusal cannot comfortably address. Independence becomes a test of responsibility.
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Homer performs an abortion for Rose, and Candy chooses to remain with Wally after he returns disabled. Following Larch's death, Homer goes back to St. Cloud's and takes his place caring for the children. Larch's forged credentials make the appointment possible. The return accepts a practical duty Homer once resisted, without making its means ethically simple.
Original context
Why it matters
What the conflict reveals
Rose's pregnancy brings Homer's medical knowledge into conflict with his refusal to perform abortions. Returning to St. Cloud's means accepting obligations he once hoped to escape.
Key turning points
Rose needs help
Rose's pregnancy makes Homer's refusal affect a person he knows whose circumstances the written rules do not address. He has to decide what his training obliges him to do.
Character links
Who connects to whom
Character motivations
What drives the characters
Homer wants experience beyond Larch's expectations, but also wants to relieve suffering. His return follows a changed understanding of care rather than a failure to imagine another life.
Adaptation