When the Fog Lifts
Longline: Before moving abroad, a driven executive returns to her New England hometown for her annual holiday visit with her aging mother. But when her mother’s dementia surfaces, and old wounds are reopened, she must choose between the life she’s built and the fragile chance at reconnection before it slips away.
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Claire Kelly, a high-powered corporate consultant, has spent her life running from her small New England hometown and the grief it contains. Returning for Christmas one last time before relocating to London, she plans to visit her widowed mother, Rose, while secretly arranging to sell the family home that has bound their family for generations.
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Rose, a devout Christian who clings to her rituals, resists Claire’s attempts to alter their traditions. Their annual clash of wills grows more fraught as Rose’s early dementia begins to surface, revealed in small lapses of memory and sudden swings of despair. Unaware of the depth of her mother’s decline, Claire pushes harder until a series of incidents – Rose wandering off in a grocery store, a volatile outburst over a broken heirloom – force her to confront her mother’s unraveling state.
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As the holiday unfolds, long-buried truths rise to the surface, including Claire’s confession of an abortion during her university years. The revelation wounds Rose deeply, straining the gulf between them. When Rose flees into a storm and narrowly escapes disaster, Claire brings her back to safety. In the quiet aftermath, mother and daughter sit together in the glow of their Christmas tree, while the storm outside rages on.
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