The Cider House Rules

In the remote St. Cloud's Orphanage in Maine, Homer Wells grows up under the tutelage of its founder, the ether-addicted Dr. Wilbur Larch. Dr. Larch is a man of dual purposes: he delivers unwanted babies, finding them homes, but he also provides illegal abortions for the women who need them. He trains Homer to be his successor, a skilled physician to continue his work. But while Homer excels as an obstetrician, he fundamentally rejects his mentor's other practice, creating a moral divide that sets him on a journey to find a life of his own, away from the only home he has ever known.

Homer's quest for experience takes him to a coastal apple orchard, where he is drawn into the lives of a young couple and the rhythms of the cider house. There, amidst the backdrop of World War II, he discovers a world of love, friendship, and loss that exists far beyond the strictures of the orphanage. As he forges his own path, he must confront the established rules of society and decide for himself what it means to be of use, what defines a family, and whether he can truly escape the destiny that Dr. Larch has envisioned for him.