Terms of Endearment is a 1983 American tragicomedy film directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, and John Lithgow. The film covers 30 years of the relationship between Aurora Greenway (MacLaine) and her daughter Emma Greenway-Horton (Winger).

Plot

Aurora Greenway, a widow since her daughter Emma was a child, keeps several suitors at arm's length in River Oaks, Houston, focusing instead on her close, but controlling, relationship with Emma. Anxious to escape her mother, Emma marries callow young college professor Flap Horton over her mother's objections.