What is ''See You in My Dreams'' about, anyway? Starring Aidan Quinn and Marcia Gay Harden and based on some bluesy, autobiographical short stories by Sam Shepard, this CBS television movie must have been someone's labor of literary love.

But the film, to be broadcast tomorrow night, is tedious. Although a lonesome man's descent into alcoholic doom makes for a primal spectacle -- this version is a pastoral, with a bushy-bearded, sun-baked hero -- ''See You in My Dreams'' squanders all sense and emotional coherence. It's not heavy-handed, as a drinking story should be; it's light-handed, lazy. It's a drunk who just doesn't care anymore.

There's supposed to be a great romance between Joe Brown (Mr. Quinn) and his wife, Angela (Ms. Harden), and initially, they're frisky. But apart from evincing a real attraction to her husband, Angela does little more than keep up appearances in the marriage, humoring Joe and not pushing him too hard to make something of his life.

Joe, for his part, keeps...