The Heidi Chronicles

It’s 1980, and in Lisa and Scoop’s apartment, Lisa is pregnant and opening gifts at her baby shower. Gathered around are Betsy (age 35), the managing editor of Boomer, Scoop’s magazine; Lisa’s sister, Denise (age 24); and Susan, who has adopted a new look. Betsy is using the wrapping paper to make a hat. They pause for a moment, listening sadly to John Lennon singing “Imagine” until Susan becomes emotional, as Lennon has just been killed. Heidi arrives late after attending Yoko Ono’s memorial for him in Central Park. Susan jokes that it’s obvious that Heidi has been in England because she keeps saying “lovely.” The women chat and open presents, gossiping about a friend whose child didn’t get admitted to an elite kindergarten and the child’s bland name, Jennifer. Scoop and Lisa like the names Maggie and Pierre for their baby. Betsy comments that she has already signed her unborn child up for classes to prepare her for the ERB, a standardized test required for admission to certain nursery schools.

Susan mentions that with Heidi abroad, Scoop and Lisa helped her monumentally when she moved to the city. Lisa calls her Susie and asks her about a job offer she received to become a vice president for a new production company in Los Angeles, which Susan has decided to accept. Almost apologetically, Susan tells Heidi that even though Hollywood can be misogynistic, if she doesn’t take the job, someone else who doesn’t care so much about women will take it. Lisa tells Heidi that Scoop wanted to see her, but he left for Princeton to participate on a panel about the 1970s and anticipation of the 1980s. Heidi seems distracted but explains that she woke up early to go to the park with Peter. Lisa suggests that she try to marry Peter because he loves kids, and perhaps he would change. Heidi replies that Peter recently broke up with Stanley, the child psychiatrist. Denise exclaims that there are no eligible men, and she wants to have children before she turns 30, adding, “I mean, isn’t that what you guys fought for? So we could ‘have it all?’” (211).

Heidi admits that she wants a family, too, and was close to marrying someone in England, but he didn’t want to come back to the United States with her when she received the job offer at Columbia. Betsy praises Heidi’s book, and Denise says excitedly that April, the host of the TV show she’s working on, is interested in interviewing Heidi. Scoop calls, and Lisa exits to speak to him. In low voices, the women discuss Scoop’s affair with a graphic designer on his magazine, debating whether Lisa knows and is just feigning cheerfulness. Heidi just saw them together in Central Park, and Scoop greeted her without shame. Lisa returns, and the women pretend that they’re talking about someone else. Betsy presents the wrapping paper hat, and Lisa cries in gratitude, apologizing for being so emotional. They listen to “Imagine” again and toast Lennon and the rest of the Beatles.

Two years later, Scoop, Peter, and Heidi have been invited for a segment on Good Morning, New York, the show Denise works for. Denise enters, pregnant, and greets them, commenting that the three of them present a great cross-section. Heidi congratulates Scoop on his second baby; he and Lisa now have a Maggie and a Pierre. April Lambert, the host, wants to talk to Scoop about politics, finances, and their generation; to Heidi about her book, women and art, and the failed ERA; and to Peter about medical advances and kids. Denise adds that Peter should be open about his sexuality because “our audiences enjoy a little controversy with their coffee” (215). This stuns Peter, but April enters, and the show starts. In the volley of conversation about the baby boomer generation, Scoop and Peter repeatedly cut Heidi off, even when April asks whether women who are trying to “have it all” are starting to worry about their biological clocks. The segment ends, and April needs to rush off to her next interview. Scoop invites April and her husband to dinner with him and Lisa, but she seems uninterested until he mentions that Paul Newman will be there.

After April exits, Scoop comments that April is insignificant, but her husband owns 60 Manhattan buildings. The two men congratulate each other, but Heidi is furious. She wanted to talk about Women and Art, the organization that she leads, but she couldn’t get a word in. Heidi excuses herself to go and meet with an up-and-coming painter, but Scoop begs her to stay and catch up, calling her “Heidella” and asking her to come visit him and Lisa. After she’s gone, Scoop comments that Peter managed to stay good friends with Heidi, and he wishes he knew Peter better. Peter comments that this emotionality is odd for Scoop, and Scoop replies, “Fatherhood changes people” (222). Peter scoffs. Scoop asks, “Peter, do people like you ever wonder what it’s all for?” (222). Peter counters, “People like you run the world. You decide what it’s all for” (222). Peter exits, and Scoop is alone, staring out.

In a trendy upscale Manhattan restaurant in 1984, Heidi is waiting for Susan, who finally returns after leaving to handle business via her phone. Susan is now a fast-talking, celebrity-courting Los Angeles television studio executive, and she asks Heidi what she’s been working on. Heidi has written only a little, but she has gotten a grant to assemble a show of some of Lilla Cabot Perry’s artwork. Susan asks about dating, and Heidi tells her she is seeing a lawyer who loves her, but she plans to end the relationship because she isn’t allowed to call him after 10 at night. Susan just broke up with a much older married man, commenting that all the women she knows are either pregnant or dealing with miscarriages and fertility struggles. Heidi offers, “I’m planning to start my family at sixty. I hear there’s a hormone in Brazil” (223), and Susan jokes that she’ll do the same. Heidi tries to have a serious conversation, asking, “Susie, do you ever think that what makes you a person is what also keeps you from being a person?” (224). Susie, however, exclaims that the topic is too complicated, and she’s changed her identity so many times that she doesn’t know who she is anymore.

Heidi is disappointed to hear that Susan has invited Denise to lunch, too. Susan has just hired Denise as her assistant, and when Denise arrives, they propose that Heidi should help them to conceive a sitcom “about women turning thirty in a large urban center” (225). Although this is a common concept for a show, Susan wants the women to be working in the art world, trying not to make the same mistakes that their generation made. Heidi wonders what those mistakes are, and Denise explains, “Well, like, a lot of women your age are very unhappy. Unfulfilled, frightened of growing old alone” (226). Susan spots the famous actor Diane Keaton and wants to talk to her. She insists that Heidi can come out to LA next week, but Heidi isn’t interested and doesn’t think that her generation made huge mistakes. Susan says that women and sitcoms are big right now, mentioning Heidi’s friend “Lily Perry,” and Heidi corrects her. Susan notes, “You know, I miss ‘The Heidi Chronicles.’ In LA, everyone creates their own history” (227). The women say goodbye, and Susan and Denise rush off to catch Diane Keaton.

It’s 1986, and Heidi addresses the Alumnae Association for Miss Crain’s School, where she graduated in 1965. The topic of the lunch is “Women, Where Are We Going” (228). Heidi admits that she hasn’t prepared a speech and that the crowd is probably imagining that the only reason she might have neglected to prepare is that she was far too busy being the perfect professional, mother, and wife. She confesses that none of that is true, and yesterday, after teaching, she attempted to go to an exercise class. Heidi admires the woman who teaches the class, Jeanette, although she doesn’t know her. All around her in the locker room, she saw women who had what she didn’t—families, fashion, wealth, and youth. Then Heidi tripped and spilled her disorganized bag at one of the women’s feet, apologizing profusely and feeling humiliated. She realized that she was jealous of women whom she didn’t even care for and who certainly had their own problems. Leaving the locker room, Heidi told Jeanette that she was too sad to attend class. Jeanette was kind, but Heidi realized, “I’m afraid I haven’t been happy for some time” (232). Heidi notes that she doesn’t blame the other women, but she feels alone, and she thought that the whole point of feminism and women’s liberation was to be in it together. She thanks the crowd and exits.

It’s midnight near Christmas 1987, and Heidi lugs boxes into the hospital’s pediatric AIDS ward to donate. Ray, a doctor, tries to tell Heidi that visiting hours start at nine in the morning. She asks for Peter, but Ray says that he’s on the phone. Peter enters and intervenes, and Ray exits. Peter is cold and angry at first, and Heidi asserts that she tried to call Peter and hadn’t been able to locate him. Peter says that the hospital received three new patients, children with AIDS whose neighbors burned down their house to warn them not to come back to school in the fall, and he is on edge about anyone showing up to the ward in the middle of the night. Heidi admits that she is donating her things because she is planning to leave town tomorrow and move to Minnesota. She is there to tell Peter goodbye. Peter responds with sarcasm, upset that Heidi sees their relationship as expendable. He tells her that he skimmed some of the newly donated children’s books, including a copy of Heidi. Peter questions, “Did you know that the first section is Heidi’s year of travel and learning, and the second is Heidi uses what she knows? How will you use what you know, Heidi?” (236). She confesses that she has been sad for a while and doesn’t want to be.

Peter digs through the boxes, musing at the records and books, none of which are geared toward children. Peter started the ward after Susan sent a large donation, having created a hit show about three women artists in Houston. Peter accuses Heidi of trying too hard and being disingenuously sweet. He admits that he is struggling because so many people around him are dying of AIDS, which makes Heidi’s sadness seem self-indulgent. Before Heidi arrived, Peter was on the phone with Stanley, who is sick. Peter explains, “You see, my world gets narrower and narrower. A person only has so many close friends. And in our lives, our friends are our families. I’m actually quite hurt you don’t understand that” (237-238). Heidi insists that she doesn’t care about anyone as much as she cares for Peter, and he acknowledges that he isn’t enough for her and says goodbye. After a moment, Heidi says that she could stay and make sure that Peter won’t lose her. They roughly reenact their first meeting, although Peter knows her name this time and doesn’t have to make it up. Heidi sings “The Shoop Shoop Song” to him, and they hug, wishing each other Merry Christmas. 

Heidi sits in a rocking chair in an empty apartment. It’s 1989, and she is reading a galley of her newest book. Scoop enters, a surprise visitor, and Heidi explains that she just moved in and the furniture hasn’t been delivered yet. Heidi wonders why he’s there, and Scoop explains that he made a list of people he cared about, and Heidi consistently made the Top 10 over three different decades. Heidi mentions that she is dating an editor, which is going well. Scoop divulges that he just sold Boomer for a huge profit and hasn’t told anyone yet (except Heidi). When Heidi suggests they call Lisa, Scoop says that she is visiting family with Maggie, and Pierre is at home with him. Heidi asks vaguely if there is anyone else to call, but Scoop says there’s no young intern in fishnet stockings. Scoop explains that he sold the magazine because he wanted to leave his children a legacy that was more significant than influencing trends. Scoop asks about Peter, and Heidi says that he has moved in with Ray, the anesthesiologist she met at the hospital. Scoop says that Heidi motivated him to sell the magazine: After Susan told him that Heidi adopted a baby, Scoop decided that if Heidi could go after something bigger, so could he.

The baby is asleep in the next room. Heidi considered several names for her but landed on Judy after the film A Date with Judy. Scoop asks if Heidi is happy, and Heidi explains that although she’s never been particularly happy or maternal, it does make her happy to imagine that one day Judy will meet Pierre, he won’t make her choose between her relationship and her career, “and she’ll never think she’s worthless unless he lets her have it all” (247). Suddenly, Scoop realizes that he is running late to Pierre’s school play. He gives Heidi the gift he brought for Judy, a silver baby spoon. Before he leaves, Heidi offers to let him see the baby, noting, “I want her to understand men, and you’re a classic” (247). Scoop quips that all babies look like Winston Churchill but grades her “A+ intelligence, B- vocabulary” (248). Scoop reveals that he plans to run for Congress and hopes that Heidi and Peter will support him. Scoop holds the baby and kisses her cheek. Then he and Heidi say goodbye and he exits. Heidi sits in the rocking chair with Judy and sings “You Send Me” to her. Lights go down, and the last image is a slide of “Heidi triumphantly holding Judy in front of a museum banner for a Georgia O’Keefe retrospective” (249).