When E.M. Forster said "Only Connect," he was not referring to The Great Northeastern Blackout of 2003, but to something that is, believe it or not, more important. Connecting with our fellow human beings is not difficult for some: If you're intellectually challenged, you'll fit right in. But if you're physically disabled, watch out. You're likely to be patronized or ignored or even bullied. Such is the case with Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf who stands about four and one-half feet from the ground and who is moving ever increasingly into his shell.

He takes an interest in trains rather than people, and who can blame him? The kids outside yell, "Hey, where's Snow White?" In an elementary school classroom, he's mocked by a kid who says "I'm taller than you!" A supermarket cashier overlooks him to serve a customer who is behind the poor guy and a librarian almost faints when, thinking that no one was in the room, is startled to find Fin. When Fin's boss in the train-hobby store drops dead and leaves a train depot way out in the sticks of Newfoundland, New Jersey to his loyal employee, Fin is happy: Now he can remove himself entirely from the company of his fellow creatures.

No such luck. A talkative, friendly guy, Joe (Bobby Cannavale) who is manning a food wagon outside the train depot wants to hang out with him and a middle-aged woman, Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), in the middle of divorce proceedings, almost runs him down, and gives him a liftthe beginning of two new relationships. After trying to shake the two off and treating the hot librarian (Michelle Williams) as though she were a librarian, Finbar signals usas though he were really working as a station agentto where the story is headed. While we're confident that he's coming out of his shell, we're not aware of how the people who have befriended him are themselves helped to see new sides of themselves, becoming as happy in the process as we in the audience who are obviously rooting for Fin will be by the conclusion.

"The Station Agent" is, like so many of the fine products of the Sundance Festivals, nicely understated, like to draw in an audience yet unfamiliar with the joys of MTV. The word "lovely" comes to mind in assessing the performances of the gifted actors in the roles of three disparate people.