Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 psychological thriller film starring Julia Roberts, who escapes from her abusive, obsessive husband, played by Patrick Bergin. She captures the attention of a kindly gentleman, played by Kevin Anderson.

Laura Burney (Julia Roberts) lives a seemingly idyllic life on Cape Cod. She has a beautiful ocean view home, and a handsome and successful broker husband, Martin Burney (Patrick Bergin). Martin is an extremely controlling man who demands perfection. He insists hand towels be lined up neatly and all of their canned foods stacked with the labels facing forwards. He wants his wife to cook him gourmet meals and makes love listening to Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique.

But he is also an abusive husband. He knocks her to the floor and accuses her of sleeping with a neighbor, Dr. Fleishman, (Kyle Secor) in their home after learning from the doctor that she was merely looking out a window. In spite of his irrational jealousy, Martin accepts an invitation to sail on Fleishman's boat, even though Laura is afraid of the water (she almost drowned as a child) -- in fact, one suspects, because he knows she's afraid of the water (another form of abuse). They set sail on a stormy, moonless night. Martin is swept overboard and Fleishman has to rescue him. When they both return, Laura is gone. The Coast Guard searches all night but there is no sign of her. Martin attends her funeral.

In a flashback, Laura narrates what happened that night. She did not drown - she had been secretly taking swimming lessons at the YWCA. She had earlier smashed two beachfront lights to guide her back home. There she cuts off her long hair, puts on a wig and changes her clothes taken from a duffel bag which was all ready to go. There is also a large wad of cash in the bag. Finally she flushed her wedding ring down the toilet.

Laura boards a bus and settles in a small town in Iowa so she can be near her mother (who is still alive). She uses her savings to rent a modest house in her new name of Sara Waters. One night she decides to pick apples from her neighbor's tree. Her neighbor, Ben Woodward (Kevin Anderson), catches her in the act and teases her about stealing them, and she reacts badly and dumps the apples. Ben catches up to her and offers her the apples and dinner. Ben tells Laura that he teaches drama at the local college, but Laura tells him nothing about herself.

Martin receives a phone call at work from a woman at the YWCA with condolences over his loss. When she tells him his wife took swimming lessons, he tells her she must have the wrong woman. But when she mentions the bruises on her body, Martin smashes a large rock that was on his desk in anger and races home. After he finds Laura's ring at the bottom of the toilet bowl, he realizes his wife is still alive.

Martin visits the nursing home where he was told Laura's late mother died. He discovers that she didn't die after all . The weekend Laura said she had gone to the funeral, she had actually moved her mother to Iowa. Martin contacts a detective agency and asks them to trace his mother-in-law. He finds her in a nursing home near where Sara (Laura) is now living. He visits the blind Chloe Williams (Elizabeth Lawrence) without the elderly woman realizing.

Laura and Ben have a disagreement when he discovers her name is not really Sara and asks for honesty. Ben takes her her on a date at the college, where she dresses up in various costumes and they both listen to oldies. Ben appears happy to see her enjoying herself. Back at her house, Ben becomes amorous but Laura rebuffs him and he leaves. The next day Laura decides to tell him what he already suspected - that she was abused by her husband and she's afraid of him returning.

With the help of Ben's makeup kit, Laura visits her mother disguised as a man. Martin also shows up at the nursing home but they do not spot each other. Martin visits Laura's mother and tells her he's a cop looking to protect Laura from the dangerous Martin Burney. She tells him her daughter is seeing a college drama teacher in nearby Cedar Falls. Martin goes to smother her with a pillow, but a nurse arrives so he simply puts it behind her head.

Martin follows a local college drama teacher and threatens him with a gun. The man protests that he's not seeing his wife - in fact he's gay. Martin threatens him again and knocks him unconscious. Laura and Ben spend the night at the fair: Martin watching them in secret. Laura goes home and takes a bath. Ben knocks on the door and they eat the picnic he has brought. Laura says goodnight at her door and goes upstairs to find her bathtub flowing over and pulls the drain plug. She then walks over to check a closet door that is ajar, interrupted by her smoke alarm sounding because her toast was burning and hurries downstairs. She removes the burnt toast, throws it away and knocks the noisy smoke alarm off the wall with the end of a broom. She is startled when she sees her hand towels lined up differently that before. When she checks the kitchen cupboard and all the cans are lined up neatly she panics. She hears the Symphonie Fantastique again and appears puzzled. Martin approaches her from behind.

There is a knock at the door -- it's Ben. Martin produces his Glock pistol and tells her to get rid of him. With tears in her eyes, Sara (Laura) tells Ben it's late. “Still haunted by ghosts?” he asks her. “They're all around me.” she says. After closing the door, Ben pushes it open and tackles Martin who overpowers and knocks him unconscious. Laura pleads with Martin not to kill him. Martin produces her wedding ring and says it could be just like before. Laura feigns affection for him and when his guard is down, knees him in the groin. His gun slips from his hand and slides along the floor towards her. After escaping his clutches she picks up his gun and fires just above his head. She points the gun at him and instructs him come towards her and tells him when to stop. He complies. She picks up the phone and dials 911. Martin mocks her saying that the police can't issue a restraining order keeping him away from his wife. “I can't live without you. And I won't let you live without me.” With the gun still pointed at him Laura says into the phone: “Hello...Police...[Her address]...come quickly...I've just killed (shot) an intruder.” Before Martin realizes what she's done she shoots him three times until he collapses to the floor.

She drops the gun to the floor and collapses to the ground in tears. Suddenly Martin grabs her hair, aims the gun at her head and pulls the trigger, but it is out of bullets. He falls back to the floor. Laura rushes over to help Ben. Martin lies dead, sprawled out across the floor, Laura's gleaming wedding ring lying near his outstretched hand.