For much of its running time, Mike Leigh's latest feels less like a single narrative than a series of shorts connected by location and a shared cast of characters. He divides the film into sections determined by the seasons, and each season shapes the tone and emotions of the story. Starting in Spring, it shows a year in the lives of Tom and Gerri (Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen), a middle-aged, middle-class couple living in London. Tom and Gerri are happy, contented people, the sort of couple who have been together for decades and will probably see out their days in each others' loving embrace.