One of the show's then-unique aspects was the "interview" sequences filmed in black and white and interspersed throughout each episode, where the characters would reveal their innermost thoughts and memories to the camera.Recently separated from her philandering husband Jake (Jeffrey Nordling), Lily is raising her two daughters: insecure, anxiety-ridden 14-year-old Grace (Julia Whelan); and precocious nine-year-old Zoe (Meredith Deane).Rick has been divorced from his uptight ex-wife Karen (Susanna Thompson) for three years and has two children: Eli (Shane West), a 16-year-old basketball player at Sinclair High who suffers from a learning disability; and sensitive 12-year-old Jessie (Evan Rachel Wood), who longs for the days before her family's disintegration.Karen, a public interest attorney at the downtown law firm of Harris, Riegert, and Sammler, is worried about the toll Rick's new relationship would take on their children, particularly Jessie, who is shy and emotionally fragile.She is able to find strength and resilience as she affirms her marriage to Jake is over, starts a new job as a publishing assistant at the magazine Pages Alive, and grows in her relationship with Rick.[1] Karen deals with her depression; just as she is starting to make progress, she is hit by a car, leading to months of painful rehabilitation where she meets physical therapist Henry Higgins (D. B. Woodside).Lily faces more painful domestic struggles when her mother begins to show signs of Alzheimer's disease and her brother Aaron (Patrick Dempsey), who is schizophrenic, wants to move in with his girlfriend.