GROUNDHOG DAY is about being given the opportunity to live several lifetimes all in the same day.

Bill Murray, as cynical weatherman Phil Conner, is sent to Punxatawney, Pa. for the annual covering of Groundhog Day, an event he dreads and loathes. Andie McDowell plays Rita, his segment producer on the shoot.

After the event the crew is stranded by a snowstorm and forced to stay another day. Waking up the next morning to Sonny and Cher singing "I Got You Babe" on the radio, Conner discovers it's Groundhog Day all over again. It keeps happening, day after day after day.

At first, he sees it as the perfect way to hone his seductive designs on Rita. Every day he learns more about her and then uses it the next day to try to impress her. For her, everything is new each day. He realized that nothing is going to get her into bed in just one day. He gets depressed, so much so that he actually tries to commit suicide. The problem is that he still wakes up the next morning at 6:00 a.m. to Sonny and Cher.

He went through the five stages of dealing with death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. He started helping people; knowing everything that is going to happen in that town on that day so he can always perform the Heimlich maneuver on a choking man.

Finally, he has really changed and Rita does fall in love with him for who he actually is on that particular day. That night, she falls asleep with him and, when he awakes the next day, Groundhog Day is finally over allowing him to move on with Rita, as a changed man.

Each day Phil learns something new about himself and the world around him and he uses it the next day.

In the beginning of his experience, Phil uses new insights for ego-centered reasons until he gradually begins to realize that he has a greater purpose for being alive and begins to utilize those insights to grow and interact more positively with the people around him. Groundhog Day provided a perfect metaphor for the lessons we seek from lifetime to lifetime. We learn and grow in each one as we evolve.

Groundhog Day as a metaphor for that growth process, has become a common term for a day that seems to go on forever.