Eight Hundred Grapes

The narrative pivots to 1989, when the elder Murray and a young Jacob are visiting Dan and his family at The Last Straw for their first harvest party. While Jacob, Georgia, Bobby, and Finn play together, Dan and Murray talk about how Murray gave Dan sage advice at the beginning of his career as well as the offer that Murray made Dan to buy his vineyard and hire him as a winemaker. Dan turns him down for a second time, and Murray prophetically comments that there is still time for him to sell.

Georgia relates a memory of how her mother knew that she was in love with her father. When they met at a Chinese restaurant, her father explained his strong-held belief that the art of winemaking was built on a solid foundation in the soil and ongoing care for the grapes. His comments led to her mother’s belief in giving something strength from the start—even when that person or thing doesn’t know how or why it will need such strength in the future.

Ben, Georgia, and Maddie walk in the vineyard. Ben tries to avoid the topic of Michelle and Maddie to try and make Georgia remember that their relationship went beyond his decision to keep his daughter a secret. While they walk, Maddie takes an interest in the terroir (the land used for growing the grapes) and the different symbiotic plants that allow the vineyard to grow and stay healthy. Georgia finds herself taking on the same role that her father took with her as a child when she imparts some of her father’s teachings to Maddie. When Maddie runs to the house to call her mother, Georgia is convinced that Ben is still keeping something from her about Michelle.

Georgia finds her mother making pot roast for the last family dinner during the harvest. Jen asks Georgia about her conflicted feelings toward Ben, and she intimates that Georgia should keep working on her love life to resolve their issues. Jen gets a message from Henry inviting her to a French restaurant in Sonoma County, and Georgia can’t hide her anger. She is furious that her mother would go off to meet Henry after the family dinner, the one that celebrates their last harvest before the sale. She expresses her disbelief at how her parents can let go of the legacy that they’ve tried so hard and for so long to grow. Her mother dismisses her comments, requesting instead that Georgia make up her mind about her upcoming wedding and whether or not she’ll go through with it.

While Georgia takes a bubble bath before dinner, she gets a phone call from Suzannah, who advocates caution before breaking up with Ben. Margaret comes to find her while Georgia is still in the bath to ask about the situation with Ben and Maddie. Georgia doesn’t want to get into details. When Margaret insists, she deflects the conversation to what’s going on between her and Finn. Margaret explains haltingly that she and Bobby have been having issues since the miscarriage of their first child. Though he is a good father, he takes no interest in her, sexually or otherwise, and does not “see” her for who she is. She tells Georgia that what happened with Finn was something that she initiated while drunk. They shared a kiss, but Finn pulled away and left her behind. She explains that while Bobby was a good choice for a partner, Finn saw her for who she was and desired her for that. When she states that she would never sleep with her husband’s brother, no matter how much she might want to, Bobby appears and has overheard her.

The narrative flashes back to 1994, when Dan is in Burgundy working for a famous vineyard to try and make up for the financial loss of two bad harvesting seasons. He misses his family and his vineyard, and he feels anxious about leaving his friend Terry in charge. In Burgundy, he works with another winemaker named Marie, who has feelings for him. They have a growing closeness between them which Dan tries to stave off by mentioning his wife often. One night, as he cleans up after their dinner, Marie appears before him, fully naked, and asks him to sleep with her.

The family gathers in the Great Barrel Room—a room off the side of their wine cave where Bobby and Margaret had their wedding—to have their dinner. Everyone but Finn has arrived, and Bobby and Margaret are arguing outside the room about the kiss that she shared with Finn. When they finally enter the room, it is with pasted smiles and heavy tension. Bobby finally notices Ben and Maddie, but as he asks who Maddie is, Finn enters, clearly inebriated, with Alexis, a woman whom Georgia deems a “Barbie.” Finn makes a show of intimately touching Alexis in front of his brother and sister-in-law, driving Bobby to anger and eventually to violence. As Finn and Bobby come to blows, the fact that Maddie is Ben’s daughter and that he kept her a secret from Georgia is revealed. Both brothers turn their ire against Ben, and the fight is only dispelled when Dan calls for calm. He orders Bobby to speak to his wife, Finn to leave the dinner, and both of them to work in the vineyard the next morning at 5 o’clock.

Georgia drives Finn to The Brothers’ Tavern, and during the ride, Finn expresses his regret for having brought Alexis and hurting Margaret, Bobby, Ben, and Dan. Georgia offers to explain the Margaret situation to Bobby so that her brothers can come to an understanding, but Finn does not want her to get involved. He confronts her about Ben and the fact that she ran away from him when she found out about Maddie. Distracted, Georgia crashes Finn’s truck into a fire hydrant. No one is hurt, but Georgia is still furious at Finn because she believes that he’s projecting his issues with Bobby onto her. She leaves him behind to deal with the accident.

On her walk back, she encounters Henry, who is waiting for her mother at the appointed French restaurant. Georgia learns that her mother cancelled her plans to meet with Henry and that he is instead meeting his son from a previous relationship. He admonishes Georgia for presuming to understand the connection that he shares with her mother or their history. When Jacob comes out of the restaurant toward them, Georgia considers a wild theory that Jacob may, in fact, be Henry’s son, but she is quickly proven wrong as neither man knows the other personally. When Henry heads inside, Jacob inquires whether Georgia would like to come to dinner with him and his girlfriend, Lee. Georgia declines, and Jacob gives her money for a cab home.

When Georgia returns home, Ben is sleeping on the couch, and Margaret is in Georgia’s bed. She goes to see her father, who is still awake in the winemaker’s cottage. He is going over his spreadsheet, the one designed to keep track of every plant, every clone, and every development concerning the vineyard—weather included. They share a bottle of their most renowned wine, Block 14, the grapes of which her father waits until the very last moment to pick. As they drink, her father suggests that she stop considering all that is happening in their family in relation to her troubles with Ben. Georgia disagrees and believes that everything is falling apart. Her father then says that, so long as someone fights for something, they can work out whatever troubles them. This prompts Georgia to comment on how unlike him it is not to fight—in this case, for his wife. Dan points out that it’s also unlike her not to fight, either—in her case, for Ben.

The next morning, Georgia finds Maddie with Jen in her bed. She invites Maddie to join her for pancakes, just the two of them, at a local café. Maddie accepts. As they eat the pancakes together, Maddie explains that Michelle broke off her relationship with her boyfriend, Clay, around the same time that she contacted Ben about Maddie. On their way out of the restaurant, Maddie stumbles into Lee, who fawns over the little girl. When the subject of Jacob comes up, Georgia purposefully does not mention that she knows him, and Maddie whisks them away from the café before Georgia can introduce herself properly.

When they return to the Ford house, Michelle is waiting for them with Ben. Georgia and Michelle have a chance to meet for the first time, and while they talk, Michelle makes it clear that her history with Ben remains unfinished. Georgia confronts Ben and correctly guesses that he left out the fact that Michelle wants him back to raise Maddie together. Though Ben denies his interest in Michelle and staunchly claims that he wishes to marry Georgia, Georgia doubts him and his reasons for their move to London. She asks Ben to leave, and when he asks her whether she still wants to marry him, she does not answer him.

The narrative flashes back to 1999, when Jen announces that she’s received an offer to work in New York as a substitute cellist in a symphony orchestra led by Henry. Dan feels insecure because of Jen’s open admiration for Henry, but he still wishes to be supportive of her and her dreams. Jen doubts that Dan truly wishes her to take the offer and tries to come up with ideas to make it work; she proposes that she leave alone and Dan visit her every once in a while. He prefers to go with her, but Jen is hurt by the fact that he only deigns to consider coming with her, instead of actively wanting to come. When he fumbles with his words and doesn’t show her devotion, she leaves him alone.

In the present day, Georgia avoids returning to the house and calls Suzannah instead. She recounts what has happened with Ben and how she ended their relationship, but Suzannah pushes her to forgive him. She tries to make Georgia understand by using her own husband’s infidelity and her subsequent forgiveness as an example. At Georgia’s uncertainty, Suzannah asks her why she won’t come home, but Georgia is no longer sure where home is.

As Georgia struggles to decide what course of action to take, she finds her father in the winemaker’s cottage and asks him to put her to work. He does, and as they work, her father tells her that he will return to Burgundy to visit a friend when the sale goes through. He says that he’ll then travel the world by boat, despite hating boats—something Jen, on the other hand, loves. Outside, Finn and Bobby are working in the vineyard, though they aren’t speaking to each other, which pleases Dan since they get more work done that way. Georgia then notices a scar in the middle of his chest, which her father quickly hides when she asks about it. He reveals that he got the scar from a car accident that he had with her mother. He believes that, ever since, things have changed for Jen, and the fear of Dan’s death has led her to consider a life without him. Ultimately, the experience made her rekindle her connection with Henry. Dan admits to letting her make such a decision, even if it costs him the vineyard. Then he leaves the cottage.

Georgia finds her mother in her bedroom, dancing by her cello. She goes to her and seeks comfort in her arms while asking her whether she still loves Dan. When Jen confirms that she does, she explains to Georgia that Henry understands her wholly in a way that combines his love of music and his love of her. She intimates that while she has that same kind of love for Dan, she does not believe that he has the same for her. Georgia realizes how lonely such a relationship might be and expresses that she only wants her mother to be happy. Though Jen claims to be happy, she cries while she says so.

Georgia forces her way into Murray Grant Wines and finds Jacob in the middle of a meeting with his board. She interrupts them, and Jacob, seething, is forced to leave his meeting. Georgia demands that he sell her the vineyard. He claims that she’s having an emotional reaction to the vineyard’s sale and that she can’t be serious. Georgia, however, is adamant. She starts to accuse Jacob of buying the vineyard with hidden intentions to destroy her father’s legacy, and for a moment, he seems to understand that she wants to stop the sale in case Dan comes to regret it later. However, when he still refuses to sell it to her and instead offers to let her father stay on, she resorts to name-calling. He escorts her out of the building and goes to his car to take out some files. In the trunk, Georgia notices a duffel bag with basic essentials and asks if he had a fight with Lee. He avoids answering and instead tells her to get her father to get the Block 14 grapes off the vines because a storm is coming.

When she drives back to the Ford house, Georgia discovers that Ben did not leave as she requested. She finds him in her room, finalizing seating charts and the catering for their wedding. The gesture warms her to him, and he tells her that she is his choice over Michelle, no matter what Michelle believes about her own worth to him. He suggests staying in Sonoma County after the wedding instead of moving to London to help her fight to get the vineyard back. Though he knows that he doesn’t deserve a second chance, he gently requests one. Georgia acquiesces on the basis that there are no more lies between them.