Robin, aptly played by Mary-Louise Parker, slowly unfolds in front of us. When we first meet her, she is informally interviewing Jane who has answered an ad for a companion to drive with her cross- country. Through this short scene in a New York City cafe, we get a quick snapshot of who this woman is:

1. As a child she sang Karen Carpenter and Carole King songs. She wanted to be a singer...she had a dream.
2. She is organized and clock-conscious.
3. She is professional, even in a casual setting.
4. She is an uptight woman who makes lists.

   Robin explains to Jane that she is heading west for a better real estate market since the New York market is in a downturn. She gives us insight to her philosophy on life when she adds, "...sometimes you have to make a change. You have to take control and say 'things are going to different. I can make them different, if I believe it in my heart'." Which leads to:

5. She is an optimist.

Once Jane consents to be her "road buddy," they begin their journey by heading west in Robin's mini-van. At the start, this unlikely pair are at odds with each other. Robin is everything that Jane is not. Robin is perky and proper, uptight and finicky, neat and organized and she loves old movies like "'The Way We Were ", which Jane finds too sappy.

Perhaps Robin exudes control and is attracted to a career where she has a sense of it because she has always felt out of control. Her brother dies as a child and her father soon follows. She flips through photo albums, trying to return to a time she erroneously thinks was happy only to be told by her mother that nobody in the pictures was happy.

Robin thinks that things should be a certain way, but in her case, it never happens that way. She knows what she wants, she just doesn't get it. In one scene, Robin tells Jane her list of wants. "A husband with a decent job. Two kids, a boy and a girl...in that order. I want a Saltbox Colonial with 3 bedrooms, a sunporch, a stairway with a white banister and a convertible den." One might find it sadly ironic that although she could not achieve her own personal American Dream, she nevertheless aids others in their pursuit of it.

As one of the more "likeable" real-estate agents portrayed in film, Hollywood still slaps its stereotypes on her. When she talks about her job, she says "I looked around and got into real estate ... that is where the performing really paid off...sizing up situations, handling people, getting what you want from them without them really knowing. You know...control." Since she cannot control the random chaos of life, she puts her efforts in controlling what she thinks she can.

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