Log Line
Melbourne TV news anchor returns to her rural home to her estranged father and old flame after receiving news that her long-missing, unstable mother’s remains have been discovered.
Synopsis
We meet LILY FIELDS, a young newscaster, in Melbourne. Meanwhile, at rural Lily Farms, JARED awakens TREVOR, Lily’s father, asking if he’s told Lily the news yet, and when Trevor says no, he texts Lily: “They’ve found her.” Lily is shaken. A flashback shows Lily and Jared as kids, playing at Trevor’s house. We meet Lily’s doting mother ASTER. In the present, Lily immediately books a flight to Perth. More flashbacks reveal that Aster is unstable and on meds.
In the present, Lily returns home, repeatedly flashing back to memories of her childhood and her blossoming relationship with Jared, which eventually turned romantic. In the present, Jared shows up and leads her to Trevor; they are both quickly moved to tears by the reunion. Jared and Trevor tell Lily that skeletal remains were found in a cave that they believe to be Aster, but they are doing DNA tests. Suicide is the suspected cause.
We gradually learn that the day of Aster’s disappearance, Lily received the news that she’d been accepted at Melbourne University, to study journalism. Jared protests, but she is determined to getaway. Trevor still feels guilty for letting her leave. We see that Lily currently takes pills as well and that she would occasionally have “fits” in childhood, like her mom, but she denies remembering them.
We see Lily in college as a paranoid wreck. Then we see her in session with DR. ARMITAGE, who gives her a prescription for pills. In the present, Lily and Jared are out on a walk and fall into each other’s arms. Afterwards, he discovers her pill bottle.
Lily is awakened by her father and OFFICER DAVIES, who informs them that the remains are indeed Aster, her death seemingly caused by a rock falling on her head, due to a tremor. He gives her an envelope that was also found in the cave. Lily reads the note inside after he leaves; in it, Aster tells her that she is sick and her medication isn’t working, so she is leaving until she figures out how to get better. Lily bursts into tears of relief that it wasn’t suicide.
Lily’s supervisor NEVILLE calls, wanting her to do a story about the skeleton. Lily refuses, not explaining why, and ends up quitting. Later, she reads the note to Jared and Trevor, who bursts into tears. Lily assures him it wasn’t his fault, it was her own, for wanting to leave. Trevor heads off, and Lily starts smelling something strange. Jared confronts her with the pills, assuring her he’ll help her with her illness. She cheers up and confesses that she loves him and always will. “Good,” he replies. They head home.
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Sandra Mayer 