When Laura (Julia Roberts) sneaks off to a new life, she sets up in a small town in Iowa and assumes a new identity as Sara. There she meets a better, but aggressively forceful, man Ben (Kevin Anderson) which makes her uneasy with everything she’s been through with her abusive husband Martin (Patrick Burgin).

At this location, there are establishing shots, as well as a parade scene. This is not in Wilmington, nor in Iowa, rather it is a small town in South Carolina named Abbeville, some 250 miles due west as-the-crow-flies. It’s much closer to Atlanta, Georgia, which is some 115 miles west of Abbeville.