KATE Winslet and Josh Brolin are scorched by the heat of unexpected passion in Jason Reitman’s handsome adaptation of the novel by Joyce Maynard.

Rising star Gattlin Griffith, 15, the painfully shy teenage son, witnesses this mending of broken hearts in impossible circumstances.

Having taken on the mantle of man of the house, he tends to his depressed mother, Adele (Winslet), who for the most part remains indoors, but during a visit to the local Pricemart with his mother he encounters a bloodied stranger, Frank Chambers (Brolin).

Under duress they take Frank home and tend to his wounds, but that night a news report reveals that he is an escaped prisoner convicted of murdering his girlfriend.

Laying low at the Wheeler homestead, the fugitive becomes Henry’s surrogate father while lavishing Adele with tenderness.

Labor Day hinges on the screen chemistry between Winslet and Brolin, and we believe their emotional connection.

The heart wants what it wants, and according to Reitman our hearts want to feel warm when we leave the cinema