After suffering a series of personal tragedies, Quoyle moves with his daughter from New York to his ancestral home in a small Newfoundland fishing village, where his life takes a turn. The film, while broadly following the plot of the book, makes several changes; notably, Quoyle is obese and has two daughters in the novel, but in the film he has only one daughter and is of average build. He is only a timid ink setter in the film and he does not begin writing as a reporter until after he arrives in Newfoundland. In the novel, he is already a journalist. Another difference is that several characters, such as the younger Buggit family, are deleted or merged.
