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The Greenes have moved into the Antebellum mansion of Beth
Hixon and her two children Rebecca and Connor. Russell
and Josh help renovate the house in preparation for Beth's
annual Founder's Tea while Claire tutors Rebecca. Dinah
catches Rebecca making herself throw up in order to control
her weight. Rebecca, who outwardly appears to be in
perfect shape, asks Dinah not to tell and tries to explain
that there's nothing wrong with what she's doing. She's
just trying to lose weight to fit into the dress her mother
wants her to wear for the tea. Feeling self-conscious
about her own weight, Dinah tries it herself. When
Claire finds, she tries to explain the dangers of purging,
tells Dinah to do some research and that they'll discuss
it. Dinah and Rebecca look at each other's lives with
envy. Dinah envies the stability in Rebecca's life, of
going to one school and being able to keep her friends, not
to mention having the privacy of her own bedroom.
Conversely, Rebecca envies Dinah's life for not being held to
her parents' expectations. Claire tries to explain to
Russell what Dinah's going through, that eating disorders are
more about self-esteem and needing to feel "in
control" than actual weight issues. Claire reveals
that she once considered it herself when Josh was a
baby. After she had Josh, Claire gained thirty-five
pounds and felt overwhelmed at the idea of being a
mother. She thought if she could get her weight under
control, that everything else might fall into place.
Claire lost her nerve when she saw Josh watching her from his
crib. She realized it couldn't be such a good idea if
she felt ashamed in front of her own child. Eventually,
Claire lost the weight but she knows they need to pay
attention to what Dinah's going through and not panic.
Tension escalates when Beth's mother, Cecil, returns after
having been "missing" for six months due to a
falling out between mother and daughter. Cecil and Beth
try to work through their differences but old resentments and
wrongs emerge at every turn. Cecil eventually admits
that she's getting to the age where she wants to reconcile
her affairs before it's too late. Dinah tracks down
Rebecca, tries to relay the information she's gained about
bulimia and the damage it can do to your body. Dinah
tries to show Rebecca she understands what she's going
through. But Rebecca feels alone, suffocated by a
controlling mother, responsible for the fighting between her
mother and grandmother. When Claire finds candy bar
wrappers in Rebecca's knapsack, she realizes where Dinah got
the idea. Claire tries to broach the subject with Beth
who is too engrossed in her preparations to give it any
credence. The dam breaks when Claire wakes in the
middle of the night and finds Rebecca in the kitchen,
bingeing, chocolate cake smeared all over her face.
Beth enters the room, disgusted, and focuses her energy on
cleaning up the mess rather than dealing with the painful
reality of her daughter's illness. Claire forces Beth
to open her eyes to what's going on. Beth goes upstairs
and hears her daughter purging through the bathroom
door. The next day, Cecil expresses her own
exasperation to Hattie, that she plans to leave, realizing
the futility of it all. Hattie tells Cecil she won't
solve anything by running away, adding that Beth needs her
mother just as much as Rebecca needs her grandmother.
Cecil finds Beth, defeated, at a loss where to turn, what to
do. Cecil helps Beth find the answer, reminding her
that, deep down inside, she knows what she has to do.
Beth asks Rebecca if she should cancel the tea. But
Rebecca doesn't want to be held responsible. Finally,
Beth realizes she has to be the one to make that call.
After all the trouble Beth has gone to, to see that this Tea
comes off without a hitch, Beth breaks the fine China on the
perfectly arranged tables and cancels the party. Beth
makes a commitment to Rebecca to change the priorities of
this family, to focus on helping each other. Once the
Greenes leave the Hixon family, Dinah approaches her father,
expressing her regret over what she's done. Dinah
realizes that, despite an outwardly enviable life, Rebecca
couldn't say what she was feeling. Russell asks Dinah
if there's anything she'd like to share. Dinah tells
her dad that she knows how much being on the road means to
him, but that she'd like to settle down. Russell tells
Dinah that she has a right to express her own feelings and
agrees to take it into consideration.
Subplot: Nathaniel helps Connor Hixon set a trap for a
"ghost" who turns out to be Connor's grandmother,
who has been "missing" for the past six months.
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