A driven TV reporter risks losing a shot at national prominence when he is sidetracked by a surreal series of seemingly disconnected incidents with a young cancer survivor that lead them both into believing they were lovers 100 years ago.

SYNOPSIS:

Copyright: pAu 3-029-931, R. T. Bowersox

In a brief opening scene, a young boy shoots down a sliding board on a playground. As he runs around to go again, his eyes meet those of a young girl standing nearby. Their gaze locks and holds....

MACKENZIE STUART is a pragmatic investigative reporter with star looks at a top Philadelphia station. But despite his success, it isn't enough. Stuart has single-mindedly pursued his goal of a national network position to the exclusion of all else, including meaningful relationships with anyone in his life. That includes his psychiatrist brother, an institutionalized father, and anyone of the opposite sex interested in more than an evening's romp in the hay. His brother says it's fear of commitment, but Stuart maintains he's never believed in love, much less a "soulmate".

Now it looks like Stuart's achieved his goal. His dogged reporting on a man facing execution in three days--who Stuart is convinced is innocent--has brought the national network calling. If he can prove he's right and save the man's life, Stuart's on his way.

Then, in a walk home one night, he encounters JESSE WINTHROP, a beautiful woman recovering from brain tumor surgery. Their eyes lock and hold. Time stops, and reality is transformed. Stuart suddenly finds himself standing on a ship off the coast of Spain in 1918, looking not at Jesse, but at a woman he feels certain is his wife. And even more disconcerting, a steward addresses him as Doctor Malcolm Barrett. A stumble on the curb breaks their connection, and returns them to the present moment

Thus begins a pinball ride for MacKenzie Stuart. Succeeding encounters with Jesse Winthrop bring similar experiences of another life in another place. Both Stuart and Jesse begin to harbor private concerns that their "visions" may indicate: in his case, the onset of the familial curse of schizophrenia, and in hers, the return of her cancer. But the experiences are so real, neither can be sure. Stuart's reporter's instinct drives him to find out more, but his attempts to reach Jesse run into resistance from her cop brother and it begins to look like each is losing their grip on reality. Stuart's brother begins proceedings to institutionalize him, and Jesse's doctors reveal they believe her cancer has returned.

Stuart's handling of the death row man's story begins to falter as he is driven more and more by the need to know the truth about what's been happening to him and Jesse. With just hours remaining before the execution, Stuart is pulled from the story, but working on his own, he finds the threads that lead him to the remarkable coincidence of the story and the experiences, and to saving the man's life just minutes before the execution.

But the victory is hollow, because Jesse's cancer had, indeed, returned, and she dies in Mac's arms as the truth of their experiences becomes apparent to them. Three months later, MacKenzie takes his own life, certain in the knowledge that he will find Jesse again, somewhere, sometime.

In a brief final scene, a young boy shoots down a sliding board on a playground. As he runs around to go again, his eyes meet those of a young girl standing nearby. Their gaze locks and holds....

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