The Happy Time

Spring inspires lessons in love and life for the French Bonnard family in 1920s Ottawa, especially for teenage Robert, who's blind to the attentions of an American neighbor girl because he's infatuated with the beautiful new maid, who is fleeing a life as a magician's assistant. Robert's mother bemoans some of the family male role models available to Robert: his party animal grandfather, roguish traveling salesman uncle Desmond, and an uncle who carries a water cooler filled with wine everywhere while his wife does all the work.