Dustin Hoffman plays Ted Kramer in this ground-breaking film. Ted Kramer is not even sure what class his child is in discovers what it means to be a father after his wife (Meryl Streep) leaves them. And then he discovers how much it matters to him when she returns and he has to fight for custody. Highlights of his Oscar-winning performance are the three different breakfast scenes at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. In the first one, a harried Ted has no idea of how to care for or communicate with his son. In the second, they sit in companionable silence, their routines a comfortable reminder of the familiarity of their life together. And in the third, when it seems they may be separated by the custody ruling, the connection between them is heartbreakingly tender.