Wendy Wheeler Screenplay Synopsis: Heaven & Nell

Synopsis of HEAVEN & NELL Screenplay

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LOGLINE: HEAVEN & NELL (fantasy). A recovering grifter thinks she's been left a bake shop in the same small town where she experienced first love. But she and her precocious daughter have been conned -- by an eerily wholesome community with a secret of Biblical proportions.

It's 1988. Lee Watson is a short but soulful thirteen-year-old in the odd and supernaturally clean and healthy midwest town of Enoch. He begs Penny, one of the handsome, ageless Enoch settlers, for a boon for his new girlfriend, Nell Tinker, and gets it: a glowing, white feather. But the very day Lee makes his declaration of love, Nell's father, an Irish-born Traveler (grifter), packs them up and flees with a mysterious metallic thing he stole. Lee's broken heart never recovers, and twenty years later, he begs the founding community of Enoch to prove their faith in love and bring Nell back. Because this is an unusal town with unusual goals, they agree.

Nell Tinker has become a single mother and smart, sexy con woman. Her father is recently deceased and instead of teaching the family business to Clara, her precocious twelve-year-old daughter, she's promised to try the straight life. Problem is, nobody thinks she's got business skills. Things get hot for them in Boston, however, when Nell, despite her best intentions, makes a score against a slimy priest and then gets too mad to return the money.

Lucky for them, the emissary from Enoch shows up then with information about a (fake) bequest from the grandfather of her junior high boyfriend, Lee. Nell and Clara travel to Enoch to learn that Nell "inherited" a home, a dog, and a bakery on the town square (really the home, dog and business of Lee). It's just a trial for six months, then both Nell and the town can decide if the terms of probate are met. Clara is delighted! She loves the town and her new friends.

However, Nell doesn't recall her benefactor or the town of Enoch at all. Not even Lee, the baker for his grandfather's sweet shop and the handsomest man in town, whom she's told was her first love. When she flirts with him, Lee is ecstatic. When she confesses no memory of their history, Lee is first crushed, then furious. He tells the town that the test of true love is over; Nell is not the one. But the town decides, behind his back, to get the two star-crossed lovers together.

Happy as she is to finally run her own business, Nell gets more and more suspicious. The town is so full of eccentrics. Sweet as they can be, and salt of the earth, with singing voices of incredible beauty. But beyond wacky. In fact, it quickly becomes clear that they're hiding something. And the founders of the town -- who call themselves the Settlers -- are hiding something really huge. A con woman knows when a really big con is cooking.

Meanwhile, some slimy Hollywood types seem to be testing the environment around the town to see if something has shifted. It's like they haven't been able to penetrate a protective barrier around Enoch. But with the complications and subterfuge created by Nell, that barrier is getting softer. Then, just as some of Enoch's secrets are revealed, the Hollywood folks show up in the town square claiming to be looking for a sleepy town where they can film the new season of ROCK & ROLL LIFESTYLE.

While the town works to reunite Lee and Nell, the Hollywood folks seem to be working to opposite purposes. Nell finally recalls her past, the town reveals its true nature, and complications ensue. The stakes get high. Really high. As in Good versus Evil, the End Times are nigh. Or are they? When the Opponent forces a mighty battle in the streets of Enoch, Nell, unwittingly, provides a key weapon for the side of good, but the battle is still unbalanced. Will Nell be able to save the day for her new community?

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