Ten years ago, when they were newlyweds, CHRISTINA and BRIAN were forced to move into her parents New Jersey home. They were broke, Christina was 6 months pregnant, and Brian was borrowing 80K to start a new business. The pressure was on. After an out of town seminar and a couple of drinks at a hotel bar, Brian succumbed to a one-night stand with a woman he just met named STEPHANIE. Today, his fireplace biz is thriving and everything’s great until Stephanie happens to walk into his store. Her pregnancy was terminated 10 years before but she’s bitter, broke, new-in-town and in dire need of a woodstove. Is it really blackmail when somebody owes you big? To make matters worse, Brian just learned that his working class father MITCH is dying and has forbidden him to tell anyone, especially his wife Christina.

Christina’s sister CASSIOPEIA has been tragically unlucky in love. Her first marriage ended on the honeymoon cruise when the groom began chasing male crew members fore and aft. Mostly aft. This time around she is preparing to wed BLAZEJ DUDEK, a funny, brilliant college professor from Poland who had polio as a child and is confined to a wheelchair. Cassie’s overbearing mother BENEDETTA thinks the two are ill-suited and their love cannot endure. For her part, Cassie is terrified of having to tell her mother that Blazej’s been offered a new teaching position and they’ll be moving to Venice, Italy right after the wedding.

After making a sordid confession to Christina, Brian finds himself living in a storeroom over his business, estranged from his wife and young son SEAN, generally despised by all, and wondering; can a man be forgiven for committing such a reprehensible act?

Christina sends Brian off to Plymouth Rock with his son (Sean was studying the Pilgrims in school) hoping for some kind of reconciliation. Brian brings Mitch along as well. An amazing chance encounter with a Buddhist monk at Plymouth Rock has unforeseen and far-reaching consequences that will begin to cause a sea change in the way they relate to each other and to life itself. Mitch in particular is deeply affected by the encounter and like most improbable and sublime events, it leads to another. Several days later, relaxing in his own backyard, he is miraculously enveloped by a spring swarm of ladybugs. In this revelatory moment, a dying man begins to realize what it means to truly feel alive.

At the rehearsal dinner before her wedding, Cassie tells the story she’s been holding back, fearing a reprisal from her future mother-in-law. The extraordinary account of how she and Blazej first met convinces everyone, including Benedetta, that the two lovers not only belong together, it’s their destiny.

The following night, at her wedding reception, Cassie is compelled to break the news about moving to Italy to her mother. Though she risks breaking her mother’s heart it may also give her a chance to do something unexpected that Cassie has waited her whole life for. To be set free.

Wedding receptions stir memories long forgotten. Christina recalls her own wedding day as a dream deferred, seen now through jaded eyes. In a pivotal moment, Mitch conveys to her just what all these uniquely odd moments in life add up to … and why we have to hold on to them at any cost. It is, after all, a magical night and Christina has to make the choice of a lifetime.

Copyright 2009 Richard Flynn
All Rights Reserved