Break Open the Sky: Feature Film + Novel
Genre: Drama, Adventure, and Love Story with Supernatural/Spiritual Elements
Tone: Love, Actually meets City of Angels
Logline: Two lovers reunite in the afterlife and have one last day to spend together before one of them is reincarnated. As they journey to the top of a mountain with two other souls who are vying for the same lifetime, they discover deep connections from their past and reveal how their future lives might potentially intertwined. This menagerie of personalities and web of interconnectedness illuminates how love endures and evolves on both sides of life.
Overview: This story imagines the final moments for two souls before they return to earth and weaves a tale of interconnectedness that resonates on both sides of life. The illumination of our souls is difficult to discern in the incarnated world, but this story makes it easy to see how our interactions imprints on our souls and follows us through our lifetimes. The soul of this story is about love that never dies.
Synopsis: Jack Armstrong (60+) has been in love with his college sweetheart, Shelley Campbell (45) for his entire adult life. They went their separate ways after college, but he has always held her in his heart. He gets the chance to reunite with her when he’s in his early sixties, seconds before a fatal car accident when she comes to him in a spirit form as his Guide to lead him to the other side of life. He makes the “deal” to exit his human form with the hope of a future life with her, determined to make up for the time they lost. Together once again on the spiritual side of life, the two lovers slip back into their previous bodies at the age they were when they died and have one final day to spend together before they take that final journey to the top of a mountain where one of them is going to “break open the sky” and be reincarnated into a new life. Knowing that their separation is imminent, they savor their moments together and devise ways to stay close and imprint their love on their souls, even if future lifetimes separate them.
The narrative weaves between the physical and spiritual sides of life. As their stories unfold, so do the stories of the other “hopefuls” who accompany them on the spiritual side of life up the side of a mountain. Jack and Shelly are joined by Goldie (50, vibrant and whimsical) and Max (70, lustful and wry). The interconnectedness in this soul cluster becomes apparent on the physical side of life as Goldie’s son Matt (30) married to Jack’s daughter, Annie (30) reveal that they’re expecting a baby. Max is the grandfather to Annie’s previous step-sister, Gigi (30+) who’s also expecting a baby at the same time with her partner, Liza (26). The expecting moms cross paths and find themselves in the hospital and delivering babies together.
On the spiritual side, the three hopeful souls (Jack, Goldie, and Max) vie for their next lifetimes and must arrive together at the top of a mountain before sunrise in order to be in a position to launch their souls into the physical world. They also must re-acclimate to living in a body, reveal their secrets, confront their previous mistakes, and help each other on the journey so they arrive together, all this while they reignite the pleasures of the flesh. Since Shelly has evolved to the level of a Guide, she can only accompany lead them, but is not expected to return. Jack and Shelly have one last day to grow their love to it’s fullest and deepest expression so it will imprint on their souls and stay with them for an eternity, even after they’re separated by what looks like his upcoming reincarnation.
On the physical side, their loved one come together in surprising and inspiring ways. The two pregnant women, Annie and Liza take the final journey toward delivering their two babies as the four souls journey up the side of a mountain with the hope of being reborn. The challenging physical journey on both sides of life illuminates some of the emotional and spiritual challenges they must face and overcome before they can return. Jack and Shelly prepare themselves for their physical a separation and savor their last day together. In the final moments, Jack is called first. In a surprising twist of fate, Shelley gets called into the other baby’s body. The babies are born. The souls arrive. All of their lives are forever changed and enriched because of the journey they’ve taken together and are about to take.
