According to Andrew Dudley's adaptation theories, Atom Egoyan's film The Sweet Hereafter is a "transformation" of Bank's novel -- as a whole, the film remains faithful to the spirit and story of the original. Egoyan's version preserves the "kernels," or core, of the novel but takes on a new discourse of supplementary "satellites" in order to depict the story visually and expand upon the concepts of Banks' version. Egoyan tackles the challenge of adapting the five person point of view of the novel by choosing Mitchell Stephens, the lawyer, as his central character. In Banks' novel, Stephens is the farthest removed from the events as he is the one narrator from outside the town of Sam Dent; however, Egoyan puts him right in the middle of the action. Egoyan is still able to tell the characters' individual stories as Stephens travels around to interview and propose a lawsuit to the townspeople. Furthermore, seeing Stephens outside the context of the accident (he is shown two years later on a plane talking to a woman who had known his daughter) allows Stephens' own narrative to be told, giving a more in-depth look at his life and intentions for pursuing the lawsuit. We find out that Stephens feels he has lost his own daughter to drugs and AIDs and is able to relate to the suffering of the members of the town. Egoyan intermixes three periods of time throughout the movie (before the accident in the town, right afterwards in the town, and Stephens on the airplane two years later). Using this dynamic fabula, or order of events, he is consequently able to give an intricate view of how the townspeople are connected, or separated, as well as how Mitchell Stephens fits into the whole picture.

Another directorial decision made by Egoyan which is significant to his discourse is the fact that he partially shows the incestuous relations that occur between the young girl, Nichole Burnell, and her father, Sam. While it could have been alluded to in less disturbing ways, this effect has a much greater impact on the viewer, emphasizing the important emotion and power struggles that occurs. Egoyan chooses to portray Nichole with dreams of someday becoming a rock star with the help of her dad (Banks' depicted her as a popular cheerleader). This change adds to the complex nature of Nichole and Sam's relationship and further demonstrates the way in which he uses her for his own self-fulfillment.

One major addition Egoyan makes to the story is using the tale of The Pied Piper of Hamelin to emphasize the town's despair after the loss of their children. The story is introduced in a scene before the accident in which Nichole reads the tale to the children she is babysitting. Lines from the story are heard again later in a voiceover by Nichole. She tells of the pied piper leading the children away as a hole in the mountain opens and swallows them up, paralleling the children lost in the bus accident. The story continues as one child is left behind when the mountain closes, a cripple like Nichole. The voiceover makes direct connections for the viewer and demonstrates the confusion among the townspeople over why their children were taken away. This "children's story" meta-narrative both alludes to the original literary form of Banks' story and allows Egoyan to expand upon the theme of loss.

Banks' Novel

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