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Twenty-three-year-old Wilgus (Christopher Berry) is leaving the following day for a trip to California before starting grad school. Maxine (Robin Mullins), a 37-year-old single mother, is returning home from a failed attempt to bring back her daughter from Cincinnati. Their paths intertwine for one long evening as Wilgus provides Maxine with steady support and renewed hope for the untold future.
After being rejected by her pregnant 18-year-old daughter, Maxine feels beaten and in need of comfort. On the drive from the train station in Wilgus's VW Beetle, she eases her pain with cigarettes, booze, and light conversation. As the Kentucky countryside rolls by, Maxine hides her drink from the town folk that watch them drive past. Suddenly self-conscious of her deceit, she takes the bottle from the bag and chastises herself for hiding her vices from the elders.
When they arrive at her house, they sit on the porch to drink, smoke, swap old stories, and imagine Wilgus's future. As Maxine relaxes in Wilgus's company, the air fills with their mutual longing and connection. When Wilgus invites her to drive west with him and explore the Grand Canyon, Maxine jokes about marrying a cowboy. But suddenly shifting to bleaker thoughts, she wonders who would take up with the likes of her. Wilgus responds that anyone would be lucky to be with her.
When despair and the drink finally overcome Maxine, Wilgus holds her and
soothes her, reversing the roles of adult and youth. He walks her into her house, helps her undress, and puts her to bed. The moment is full of possibilities and consequences. After tucking her in, he lies next to her for a few minutes, and Maxine tells him she loves him. He replies, sincerely, that he loves her too. And as she slips into near sleep, he kisses her forehead and leaves.
The sound of Wilgus's departing VW becomes the sound of his car arriving as Maxine has a vision between dream and fantasy. She sees Wilgus coming to take her with him in the morning. She sees herself preparing to leave but the vision transforms into her daughter leaving with Wilgus.
In the final scene Maxine sits in the remains of her garden, in the morning sun, after washing up. She holds her coffee in contentment, remaining in her garden as a phone rings insistently in her house.
The Stories | The Author | The Filmmaker | The Cast | Resources | ITVS
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