While dining out with friends, Sy suggests the difficulty of separating comedy from tragedy. To illustrate his point, he tells his guests two parallel stories about Melinda ; both versions have the same basic elements, but one take on her state of affairs leans toward levity, while the other is full of anguish. Each story involves Melinda coping with a recent divorce through substance abuse while beginning a romantic relationship with a close friend’s husband.

Melinda is forced to take a break from classes in order to work and pay for her grandma’s (Becky) hospital bills. As Melinda is leaving the hospital one day, she is struck by a car in a hit and run, leaving her legs permanently paralyzed. With Becky’s health depleting fast, they learn of a surgery that could possibly save her life

Vic and Melinda Van Allen are a couple in the small town of Little Wesley. Their loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby, in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family.

Vic and Melinda Van Allen are a couple in the small town of Little Wesley. Their loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby, in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family.

Freshman high-school student Melinda has refused to speak ever since she called the cops on a popular summer party. With her old friends snubbing her for being a rat, and her parents too busy to notice her troubles, she folds into herself, trying to hide her secret: that star senior Andy raped her at the party. But Melinda does manage to find solace in her art class headed by Mr. Freeman.

Newlywed Melinda Gordon tries to help the dead communicate with loved ones, ‘but sometimes the messages she receives are intense and confusing.’ Most of Melinda’s efforts involve resolving conflicts that are preventing the spirits from passing over. The sentimental drama is ‘inspired by the work of medium James Van Praagh.’