The Secret of Boomer Lake

SYNOPSIS...

“The Secret of Boomer Lake” is a coming of age adventure that takes a smart, cynical girl named JAY on a wild ride from grief into a world of possibilities.

 

As we open, Jay arrives by bus from New York City in the small, dusty forgotten town of Boomer Lake. Reluctantly, she has come to meet her peculiar but well meaning AUNT PALLY and UNCLE PUKKY to escape the City and the constant thought of her parents, research scientists tragically killed in a car accident.

 

Angered by the forced trip to meet strangers in a strange place, the modern city-girl Jay is out of place in the natural surroundings of Boomer Lake and the cast of quirky locals. Soon after arriving she meets CHEPI, a reclusive but charming town native who will show up again and again as a guide for Jay during her life journey.

 

One moonlit night, confused and sad, Jay rows her uncle’s leaky skiff to the middle of the lake. The boat fills with water far from shore. Jay’s cries for help go unheard and she sinks below the waves. As Jay fades into darkness, something pushes the young girl from the lake. Was it a natural occurrence of Boomer Lake? Was it a sea creature? Or was it all merely the confused imagination of a lonely girl? From this point on, the denizens of the town are caught up in and divided over the story Jay tells of being saved by the fabled Loch Ness-like “PLESSY” of Boomer Lake. To further complicate matters, the teenager believes she has been asked to save Plessy’s eggs from disaster.

 

At a raucous town meeting, a SCIENTIST offers a plausible explanation that Jay longs to reject. The meeting turns to chaos and again Jays feels alone at the mercy of events. Seeing money to be made, the MAYOR engages two ne’er do well town bullies in a plan to steal the eggs. Against Jay’s wishes plans have also been made to x-ray the objects. All the forces align against Jay: criminals wanting their share, the “adults” doing the right thing and a deadline that Jay must meet to return the eggs to Plessy in time for them to hatch. With the help of her aunt, uncle and surprisingly, one of the town bullies, Jay escapes with the eggs.

 

Finally, with Chepi by her side, Jay rows to the middle of Boomer Lake, discovers its secret and learns that sometimes there can be more than one answer to the questions of life, death and finding one’s way in the world. And in the process, a town is given back hope, a young girl grows up and the always unseen Plessy is proven to exist. Or then again, maybe not.

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