On Golden Pond is the love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer, who are returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for the 48th year. Norman is a cantankerous retired professor with heart palpitations, but still as tart- tongued and observant as ever. Ethel is 10 years younger and the perfect foil for Norman. They are visited by their divorced middle-aged daughter and her dentist fiance', who then go off to Europe leaving their teenage son for the summer.