Bounce Pics

Advertising executive Buddy (Affleck) has just signed an airline in Chicago as a big client but is later delayed by a snow storm waiting for a flight to Los Angeles on the same airline. He meets Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn), who opts to be bumped, even though it means missing an outing with his son. When the flight resumes boarding, Buddy, trying to do a good deed, gives his ticket to Greg so he can get home to his sons (played by Alex D. Linz and David Dorfman). While spending the night with fellow stranded passenger Mimi (Natasha Henstridge), he discovers via the television news that Greg's flight crashed. Buddy had conspired with his friend Janice Guerrero (Jennifer Grey), the ticket agent that night to put Greg on the flight using his boarding pass. Now he needs his name removed from the passenger list and add Greg's name.

Meanwhile, Greg's wife Abby Janello (Gwyneth Paltrow) is woken up by news of the crash, and is for many hours torn between hope and despair, clinging to the belief that Greg would still arrive on the later flight on which he was originally registered - until his death is confirmed beyond further doubt.

Once back in L.A., Buddy's new client dictates that the company run a series of innocuous ads to ameliorate the tragic consequences of the crash. Buddy feels guilty for putting Greg on the plane, and drunkenly (and publicly) acts out when the commercials win a Clio award. After going through an insincere stint in Alcoholics Anonymous, Buddy arranges to meet Abby and her two young sons, without revealing his responsibility for her husband's death. Following her to a rental site, Buddy catches her off guard with a hostile dog setting the unit up for a showing. Abby catches him in a fumbled story about just stopping by. The dog, ironically also called "Buddy", gets loose although still chained, and tears into Buddy's clothes. After sending the clothes to be rewoven, the two talk, each maintaining a secret. Abby is divorced, not widowed, and Buddy didn't really know Greg.

Buddy helps Abby with a tip on a commercial office building that Jim the owner has put a bid on. Abby does a masterful job of selling the property. She has no idea where her offer to pay a commission point back at closing.^{[clarification needed]} Buddy's confidence in her ability shines through as does she. Abby treats Buddy to a night at Dodger Stadium and they discuss their journey to this point. Abby tells a humorous story of the birth of her son Scott in a Datsun after she broke Greg's nose climbing into the back seat. She then finishes by driving to the hospital. Buddy tells Abby that she is really brave and she replies that she was just scared. Buddy remarks "It's not brave if you're not scared."

Falling in love, Buddy gets close to the whole family. The airline's settlement with Greg's estate comes through for Abby who next wants to put her boys on a plane to Palm Springs to get over their fear of flying. Abby tells Buddy that he is off the hook and needn't say another word, hinting that she would not expect him to play father to a widow's children. However, there's a short pause and Buddy gets right back into it with a request to go along - and soon develops a strong bond with the two boys. On the return trip Buddy says he has a secret he will reveal the next day.

It all comes apart when Mimi shows up, giving Abby a short video of Greg and Buddy having a drink in the airport bar. Abby is devastated by finding that Buddy lied to her on such a fundamental issue and demands that he leave her home and her life - though also demanding that he say goodbye to the boys. This doesn't sit well with anyone, Buddy comes back the next day and talks to Scott who feels that his father died trying to get home for a Scout Christmas tree outing.