A man in hiding fears his supernatural power to make people happy will be the death of him. But when he's drawn out by a disgraced doctor, he confronts humanity, greed and love in New Orleans.

SYNOPSIS:

Happy Jack is at once a Southern Gothic drama that twists into a psychological thriller in the third act, a meditation on finding happiness, and an examination of the greed and selfishness that drive human relationships.

JACK HAZELWOOD is a homeless middle-aged black man living out of a rusted van. He also risks his life to save the people of Dauphin Island, Alabama, during two major hurricanes and the BP Macondo oil spill.

He has a gift (or a curse) — the psychic power to know what people around him need to be happy and the uncontrollable compulsion to provide it to them. Jack never says 'no.' Whether it's just bringing a smile to someone's face, changing lives or covering up unhappy realities, Jack will do anything to please — and it just might kill him.

CNN newscaster JAMES "FISH" FISHMAN's profile on the reluctant hero of Dauphine Island reveals Jack's whereabouts to DR. CLAUDIUS ARCHAMBEAU, a con artist and a chameleon who aims to use Jack's power as a for-profit drug therapy for the masses. From uplifting successes to near fatal failures, Jack toils away in New Orleans under Dr. Archambeau's imprisonment doing what he can for the most depraved and downtrodden people in the aftermath of Katrina. Jack's health and hopes fade until he and a patient — ANGELIQUE, a Haitian immigrant struggling with sex addiction — fall in love. When she discovers his power and predicament, Angelique decides to help Jack break free of the psychological cage Dr. Archambeau has trapped him inside.

Depressed over losing Jack and his journalistic integrity, Fish embarks on a quest to rediscover both. He arrives in New Orleans just in time to help Angelique stop Dr. Archambeau's final con — a plot to kill an old rival and frame Jack for the murder. Angelique plans to kill the doctor first.

Suffering from physical and emotional pain due to his inability to make both Dr. Archambeau and Angelique happy, Jack threads a twisting psychological needle to thwart both of their plans. After locking Angelique and Fish in a secured room and tying himself down in a restraint chair so that he can't stop events once they're in motion, Dr. Archambeau unknowingly poisons himself, freeing Jack to go back into hiding — this time with the support of his love, Angelique.