SEEDS OF RUST SYNPOSIS

A 50 year old man, James Moore, suffering a mid life crisis returns home to the small farming town he grew up in to “put the pieces back together again.” The twist here however is that his isn’t your “normal male” mid life crisis. When James left just over thirty years ago - right after high school and the sudden death of his mother - he was highly regarded, “a hometown hero,” star athlete with tremendous opportunities coming in from all corners of the country. Instead of exploiting those opportunities however, and much to the surprise and disappointment of family and friends, he passed it all up; the money and fame, choosing instead to quietly move away, far away and study the Bible and make a life doing “God’s work.” For all the years in between he’s moved around the country, an Ordained Minister, selflessly preaching the word of Christ. For some reason however, and again to the surprise of friends and family, his trips home were mysteriously few and far between. Then thirty years later, out of the blue, James woke up one day, literally, and suddenly found himself in a midlife crisis… OF FAITH! With a world in increasing turmoil, and so much tragedy, natural and man-made, his faith in God and Christ had suddenly vanished! Afraid of what he might discover, and with an aching heart, he decided to return to his roots and search for the buried clues of his discontent. While he didn’t expect open arms, he knew he had disappointed too many, it home -coming even worse than he could have imagined. For openers, his father Glen, a lifelong farmer, is now much older and with that more bitter and angrier than ever. And it’s not that the season’s crops were decimated by a Rust disease, or that farming was down in general and the cost of doing business was skyrocketing, those both exist…no, what really has the old man fuming is that he feels that James has squandered every opportunity that life has presented him, never finishing anything. “Every seed you’ve planted, everything you’ve put in the ground, including your mother, has yielded you nothing, not a single fruit has come to bear. You’ve got nothing to show for your years. And that’s not my fault, not your mother’s fault, and certainly not God’s fault,” he scolds his son. Elsewhere, James’ younger sister Mary, who was only 14 when her brother ran from town, also has her problems. Her husband has left her for a younger woman, having his own more traditional mid life crisis. But none of that compares to the real problem in town! James returns home on the heels of a terrible tragedy that lingers over the place like a dark cloud without a breeze of hope that it will move on. A prominent farming family has perished in a deadly, early autumn fire, burning their farmhouse to the ground. And as if that weren’t enough, a challenged local man, Travis, who in the same breath is loved yet also somewhat of a “shame” for the town, has admitted to setting the fire in revenge against the farmer who was a major proponent of “putting him away and throwing away the key.” For James this is a tragedy of epic proportions as Travis, who now sits in jail, headed for a terrible future, was also his best friend growing up, the water boy for the football team, the guy that would always prop him up when the going got tough. James, to say the least, is as confused as ever. This does nothing to help him find his way back to Christ. In fact it is further evidence of a world upside-down and deepens his crisis of faith even more. If James is disappointed, the town is even more disappointed. If ever they needed someone to guide them, give them hope, restore the faith, it is now. And their “hometown hero,” who once abandoned them to do God’s work – which all finally resolved in their heart – has returned home unable to do the very thing they need, give them that hope, that faith, the thing he left them for. Many like Glen now see James as someone who runs from life’s problems – never living up to his potential. As autumn turns to winter, James can’t come to grips with the fact that Travis has done this terrible thing. It just doesn’t sit right. When he suggests that there is possibly some other explanation, a mistake has been made, he’s met with angry retorts, “let it be, it’s over, we need to move on!” All seem content to let the guilt hang on Travis’s shoulders and perhaps, finally be done with the “Travis problem,” a bittersweet consolation. Something inside James will not let it go however, and doing some detective work behind the backs of others, especially the town Sheriff, and old high school teammate, he starts to retrace the events leading up to the tragedy, the timelines. He’s driven by a force that he doesn’t even recognize to get to the truth, a truth he knows is different from the one being hastily accepted in an effort to quickly get past the tragedy. He also knows that no healing will ever take place, real healing, if the ultimate truth is never revealed. Reconstructing the events and without a doubt in his mind, James determines that it would have been impossible for Travis to have started the fire. With evidence in hand, he goes to Travis and insists on the truth. Travis finally breaks down and gives in. It is revealed that a couple of teenage guys, friends of the farmer’s teenage daughter were there that night, goofing around outside the girls window, taunting her to climb down so they could all “hang out.” One of them innocently flicked a lit cigarette on the ground and dry hay quickly caught fire. But it was clearly an accident! Nonetheless, the boys panicked and ran as the fire quickly grew out of control, consuming the house and the family inside. Travis, bicycling home from a nearby town and a football game, witnessed the entire thing. He too knew that he could do nothing to stop the angry blaze. But what he could do is step in and take the blame so the poor teenage boys’ lives wouldn’t be ruined by what he knew to be only an accident. In the process he also figured this was a way to finally give the town what they want, an end to “the Travis problem.” The stories larger resolution however comes in the restoration of James’ faith. In Travis’s selfless act, James witnessed something that was truly “Christ like.” In today’s world, with all its difficulties, one person was willing to suffer so that another’s life, their soul could be saved. A simple act, yet one that would begin to rebuild his faith in God and man… Jim, reborn, returns to do his calling, although this time, staying in town, planting a seed that he would see to fruition.