There is nothing more rewarding in cinema than a precise, gentle and beautifully honed exploration of the vagaries of the human heart. Dear Frankie provides this reward and much more.

Lizzie has raised her nine year-old son Frankie on her own, telling the boy that his father is a sailor perennially away at sea. As a result, he is obsessed with all things nautical while living ashore with his Ma and Nana above a fish-and-chip shop where the meals are a disappointing substitute for the exotic marine life of his fantasies.

Frankie corresponds regularly with his absent father and is unaware that it is his mother who writes the letters from Dad; as Frankie is deaf, these letters bring Lizzie joy by providing her most intimate means of communication with her son. Complications arise, however, with the arrival of a boat bearing the name Lizzie, invented for his father's vessel - and Frankie anticipates a long-awaited reunion. Boxed in, Lizzie hires a complete stranger (Gerard Butler) to pretend to be Frankie's father for two hours of imaginary shore leave.
- adapted from the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival program.