In this perhaps too ordinary portrayal of real life, a father deals with the complexities and frustrations of the fine art of letting go of his two sons and allowing them to step into adulthood. He may even learn to move on in his own life.

Jim Winters (Anthony LaPaglia of TVs "Without A Trace") owns a landscaping business in a quiet suburb in New Jersey. He and his two sons live in a comfortable home, on a tree-lined street. Gabe (Aaron Stanford) is twenty-ish and stuck in a dead-end job as a grocery clerk, trying to rack up as many overtime hours as possible. Pete (Mark Webber) is a lay-about in high school and at home, and seems to have no direction.

We enter the story when things are about to be shaken up and changed for this small, unhappy family. That’s what solstice means¾ to bring light, a change. An important element in the storytelling here is that we know the mother in this picture is absent but it is some time before we know exactly what happened to her. After all, why is it necessary for us to be told right off? The members of this family certainly know the facts and they act and react around the circumstances. Each of the men is burrowed into his own uncomfortable foxhole, ready to do battle with interlopers or even each other. We watch and we wonder, just as any outsider might. We learn the truth as it is revealed to Molly (Allison Janney), a friendly new lady in the neighborhood, who seems to want to get to know Jim.

Jim’s wife died three years earlier in a car crash and the three men have been going through the motions of living since then. Gabe is saving money to take off for Florida to stay with a friend and work on a fishing boat. This comes as news to his girlfriend Stacey (Michelle Monaghan), who refuses to talk to Gabe after he drops it on her. His father is enraged when Gabe tells him he’s leaving. Pete is blowing off his time in high school classes seemingly, until a conscientious teacher helps us realize that he’s a bright kid ¾ with a few issues.

The cast of characters is interesting and the acting is fine. The situations seem familiar to any of us involved with a family. That just about covers the populace. Some incidents feel drawn directly from real life experiences, perhaps. And maybe that’s the problem we had with the film overall. A story, whether in a book, on stage or in a film, needs to be drawn with a broader stroke to make an impression. "Winter Solstice" seems to paint by numbers.