When Mitchell Stephens (a litigation attorney played, in The Performance of his hugely impressive career, by Ian Holm) appears on the scene, you hope that he's going to be a source of healing, but Stephens is dealing with ghosts of his own that make him pursue a questionable lawsuit against the bus company with something approaching Biblical fury.

CNN: Review: Vengeance in a town full of grief in 'The Sweet Hereafter'