Long story short, it's a story of an idealistic teacher named James who teaches deaf students how to speak. One day, he sees a young woman storming out of the kitchen of his school cafeteria. When he asks the school principal who she is, he learns she's a former student named Sarah who now works as a school janitor.
Sarah is beautiful. And she is also one of the brightest, according to the principal. James is curious why she settles for a seemingly unexciting job of janitor. James tries to communicate with Sarah, and also out of his professional idealism tries to get her interested in speaking when he learns that Sarah can talk in sign language, but that she would not try to speak.
As time goes by, James comes to a point where he must admit to himself and to Sarah also that he is in love with her. Sarah quits the job of janitor and starts to live with James in his place. But things do not go as well as they want them to. While knowing deep down that he must love her just the way she is, his professional idealism raises its head every now and then, he acts as if he wanted Sarah to learn to speak. Sarah senses it, and decides to leave his place without telling him where she is going. James is left alone.
Months after they are parted, James goes to meet Sarah's mom to find out she works downtown as a manicurist. James goes to the salon where she works and sees her through the shop window receiving a tip from a satisfied customer. James leaves the salon without contacting Sarah.
Time passes. There is a school festival. James looks happy with his students dancing and smiling. But in the back of his mind, there is always Sarah. How is she doing? Doesn't she miss me? Could she ever come back to me... He turns his eyes off his happy students and sees a crowd of formally-dressed guests. Among a number of tall guests, near their shoulders, that familiar long curly hair is glimpsed, and as those guests walk off, a full figure of the owner of that hair becomes visible. It was Sarah dressed in a white one-piece dress and white heels. The upper chest of the dress is slightly lacy to make her look charmingly feminine. James cannot believe his eyes. He slowly looks away from his charmingly-dressed former girlfriend and leaves the party room and gets out into the starry night. A while later, Sarah joins him outside. They tell each other by sign language what went through their minds while they were apart. They realize they need each other.
The actress who plays Sarah is Marlee Matlin. She is very charming in the movie, able to express so many complicated emotions. In real life, she lost almost all of her hearing ability as a child, but that didn't stop her from pursuing acting career. At age 58, she is still incredibly vivacious and charming. She is also very active in promoting support for people with hearing impairment.
Her co-star, William Hur who played James passed away last year after leaving a colorful filmography behind...
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