A 17-year-old boy (
Chad Lowe) is killed in an automobile accident. As the facts begin to assert themselves, it appears that the boy actually took his own life. His mother (
Mariette Hartley) and sister (
Dana Hill) try to learn the truth, even as his father (
Howard Hesseman) digs in his heels and refuses to face the possibility of a suicide. While this plot line is unravelling, the boy's best friend (
Charlie Sheen) is tormented by the possibility that he could have prevented the tragedy. The emphasis in Silence of the Heart is the effect of suicide on the survivors rather than the victim, and the realization that one does not have to be "crazy" to end one's own existence. This made-for-TV movie was originally telecast October 30, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide