Seduced by Madness

Seduced by Madness The Diane Borchardt Story is an American television film based roughly on reallife events. It recounts the story of Jefferson, Wisconsin teachers assistant Diane Borchardt, who hired teen students first to spy on her cheating husband and later to kill him. The film begins with the murder then traces in flashback the events leading up to it, followed by the subsequent police investigation leading to arrests and eventual murder convictions of both Borchardt and the teens.

The film cuts to seven months before the shooting, during the Fall of 1993. Diane Kay Borchardt AnnMargret is a seemingly ordinary schoolteacher with a normal life. She has a loving husband, three children, and a lovely house. However, it quickly becomes apparent that she harbors deep mental instability and possible psychosis. While she dotes on and spoils her daughter Regan, she is emotionally and physically abusive towards Ruben and his two children, Brook Hedy Burress and Chuck Tobey Maguire. Ruben married Diane fourteen years prior after his beloved wife Susan Cynthia Lynch died in a car crash when Brook and Chuck were young. Realizing his children needed a mother figure in their lives, Ruben married to Diane, only to find himself in a loveless marriage in which Diane constantly abuses him.One day, Ruben goes to a neighbors house to help him remodel his kitchen, as he is a workathome carpenter. There he gets reacquainted with Claire Brown Leslie Hope, whom he works together with to remodel the kitchen. During the remodeling, Ruben and Claire share their personal stories with each other, becoming increasingly close friends as the project goes on. ........

Source: Wikipedia