A House on Fire

Deb Green’s house in Kansas City is on fire and her children burn alive in flames. Deb (Stephanie March) is outside on her knees and screaming for help. Detective Burnetta (Nicholas Treeshin) and Detective Smith (Gabriel Daniels) begin their investigation.
Years earlier, a very belligerent hospital patient shoves a nurse against the wall. Only an intern, Debora Green’s quick thinking calms the situation. Deb is a doctor who scrapbooks. The page she is working on visualizes her future. Another intern named Mike Farrar (Shaun Benson) asks her to grab a cup of coffee. Dr. Jim Sturgeon (Erik Athavale) explains to Deb that Mike was flirting with her. Deb agrees to go out with Mike after he explains his diagnosis of a grade A wrist sprain by giving Mike her phone number on a card. Deb is competitive and takes him out on a run. Then they drink beers in the park while talking about their futures.
Sometime later, Mike and Deb get married and appear to have a perfect life as they settle into their new home. As the years go by, the spark fades. They are both busy raising their kids, Tim (Connor Peterson) and Kelly (Isla Gorton). Six months before the fire, while rushing around the house, Deb trips and injures her wrist. She is late for a staff meeting, is behind in her case load, and has not yet passed her most recent medical board exam. A colleague prescribes her pain meds. Mike is up for a promotion to head of cardiology and is asked to a conference in Baltimore. Deb sees her dream house is for sale in Canterbury Court. The police investigators prompting the telling of Deb’s story finally asks her directly if she started the fire to her house.
Deb gets passed up for her partner due to her lack of bedside manner and put on a “work from home” schedule doing peer reviews of colleagues and Medicaid claims. She gets addicted to the pain killers and starts prescribing them to herself. Mike’s boss, Doctor Joseph Barry (John B. Lowe) clues Mike in that colleagues have noticed this his wife is slurring her words and writing illegibly. That night, Deb catches Mike going through her things searching for drugs. Mike confronts Deb with the possibility of her drug use, but she steers the conversation to the in equity in the time each has to pursue their career goals because of the demands of their family life. That night, Mike meets Celeste Walker (Amy Groening), a female psychiatrist at a school function. Mike asks Celeste about mental health and work/life balance. Deb sees them talking and thinks he is flirting. Deb is insulted when Mike tries to offer her some of the tips Celeste gave him to help Deb. Mike and Celeste continue to meet and talk about Deb potentially be bipolar. Deb tells the police investigator that Celeste is a whore. Mike and Celeste start having an affair. Mike admits he was with Celeste Walker the night of the fire and that he is no longer in love with his wife.
Deb is suspended from her hospital privileges for not passing the medical board exams. She does not reveal this to her husband. She goes home and rips of the photo of herself as a doctor that was in her scrapbook. Mike admits to the investigators that Deb was troubled with mood swings and depression. Deb tells the investigators emphatically that she is a good mother and that she loved her children. The next day, Mike asks to share a ride with Deb to work. She drops him off and conveniently forgets her purse in the car. She drives to her dream home and takes more pills. When Tim gets in a fight as school, Deb springs both Tim and Kelly for a day off from school to eat pizza and play catch in the park.