Ronald Kaplan

When people start disappearing in Surf City a rabid media floats the idea of a serial killer and everyone tries to cash in.

Out-of-work college professor Grant Oldman gets more than he bargains for when he brings an unknown woman to pose as his wife for a dinner party. After a disastrous evening, Grant finds himself homeless and unemployed with the unwanted task of supervising his unstable date that has inadvertently kidnapped the key witness to a fatal mob massacre. With federal agents hot on their trail, they must escort the witness to safety and escape the city before the mafia can execute its deadly plans.

A group of Californians experience loss, despair and desperation over the course of seven days before Christmas. A boxing underdog must face the truth about his uncertain future, a blocked novelist struggles to create a new work admist a suspicious movie proposal, and an engineer with a secret must sell his business plans before it puts his marriage and career in serious jeopardy. With a self-imposed, mounting pressure, their actions and decisions push them deeper into a void of self-doubt and misery leading to one last hope to start fresh again.