Alma Wheatley

Alma Wheatley is a lonely housewife with an absent husband and her own vices. She and her husband Allston reside at 4400 Reed Lane, Lexington Kentucky.

She welcomes Beth as both her adopted daughter and much-needed companion. As a girl she had ambitions to be a concert pianist and still likes to play, but her career was derailed by stage fright. When Beth is on the rise in the chess world, she acts as her manager and accompanies her to tournaments all over the United States. At Beth's first major international tournament in Mexico City, she hooks up with an old pen friend named Manuel and begins an affair with him, however Manuel leaves her after about a week. Shortly afterwards Beth discovers Alma dead in her hotel room of suspected hepatitis, exacerbated by her alcoholism.

Alma Wheatley is played by Marielle Heller.

Alma Wheatley