When Quoyle, a hapless, lonely upstate New Yorker, loses his estranged wife (Cate Blanchett) in a car accident, his life changes forever. Stricken with grief and longing, he retreats with his aunt (Judi Dench) and young daughter (Alyssa, Kaitlyn and Lauren Gainer) to Newfoundland, the mysterious home of his ancestors.

In the small fishing outport of Killick-Claw, Quoyle secures a job as a reporter at the local newspaper, The Gammy Bird. With each article he writes, Quoyle’s sense of this quirky community sharpens, along with his sense of himself. Gradually, a romance develops with Wavey (Julianne Moore), a woman who lives with her own personal demons. As his new life unfolds in Newfoundland -- a place of magic, uncompromising beauty and hardship-- dark secrets from his family's past emerge, and as his past melds with his present Quoyle finds his life being transformed.

The Shipping News stars Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, Scott Glenn, Rhys Ifans, Jason Behr, Gordon Pinsent, with Pete Postlethwaite and Cate Blanchett. Hallström directs the film from a screenplay by Robert Nelson Jacobs (Chocolat), based upon the novel by E. Annie Proulx. The Shipping News is produced by Irwin Winkler, Linda Goldstein Knowlton and Leslie Holleran. Andrew Mondshein is the editor. Acclaimed British cinematographer Oliver Stapleton, B.S.C is the director of photography.

Miramax Films presents a Winkler Films production, The Shipping News, a film by Academy Award-nominated director Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog, Cider House Rules, Chocolat).