Logline:

A 75 year black man living his final days in a not-so-nice retirement home and a 20-something white woman with a chip on her shoulder, form an unlikely bond over their shared loneliness and loss which leads them to the banks of the Mississippi River.

Synopsis:

1966.  Mississippi.  George Bloom, a 26 year-old black man, was baptised in the Mississippi River. It was both the happiest and saddest day of his life. 50 years later, George, now 75, is living his final days in Branson Missouri at a decrepit retirement home with the assistance of an oxygen tank.   He spends his time woodcarving and dreaming about being baptized again in the Mississippi River.

One day he meets Randi Turner, a 20-something woman with a chip on shoulder, grieving the loss of her parents. She has come to the retirement home to play guitar and sing hymns for the newest preacher who has taken over chapel services.  George becomes enamored of Randi as she bears a striking resemblance to a woman he loved and was baptized with back in 1966.

When Randi’s guitar is destroyed in a freak accident by one of the seniors in the home, George invites Randi to his room where he gives her his guitar that he has owned for over 50 years.   Randi is inspired to return the act of kindness by driving George to Mississippi where she would fulfill George’s dream and baptize him again.But they face many challenges the least of which is getting passed Melba Stern, the power-hungry, domineering head of the retirement home.

Once on the road and they near Mississippi, George’s fears get the best of him and threaten to derail the trip. He is haunted by memories from 1966 that overshadowed his baptism involving racist and violent acts against him and the woman he once loved.  Randi meanwhile struggles with her own deep-rooted fears including what happened to her parents and why she has abandoned the guitar since their death.

With George literally on his last breath, Randi is forced to commit an act of violence in order to get him to the Mississippi River and baptize him. His fears are squelched, but George pays a price for getting back to the river while Randi experiences a cathartic breakthrough that changes her life forever.