David Namerow

Ethan Swann was sure he could learn how to kill as well as his trophy hunting father and finally gain his love and respect. When a black bear wanders into his back yard he shoots at it, certain its massive head will be a trophy his father will proudly mount. But he misses, and the bullet streaks through the nearby community, its supersonic path intersecting the life trajectories of... ..single mom Martina who abuses and imprisons her 8 year old son, Ryan, so she can live a wild life. ...Lane, who watches his bedridden wife of 60 years breathe her last, and on their park bench, toasts her memory with a glass of wine mixed with 8 mg of fentanyl. ...loan shark muscle Santee who, while in juvie detention, discovers his gift of taming battle-scarred fighting dogs scheduled for euthanasia. ...wife beater Brad who is taught a violent lesson by three masked women wrestlers, part of a Mexican wrestling tradition that derived from Aztec performances of ritual combat. ...road-raged off-duty cop Kasten, on a girlfriend breakup phone call at a green traffic light who smashes the headlight of the impatient horn-honker behind him. ...Carly, daughter of a Vietnam POW whose recovered skull fragment is the only piece of her father returned to her, the tale of his torture a bond in common with her Vietnamese manicurist lover, Cam. ...gang-raped survivor Kaneesha who finds peace as a community gardener, her faith in humanity refreshed by a precocious 6 1/2 year old imp. It misses, by millimeters, all... ... except one.

A broken turbine blade blasts through a jet engine, destroying a window in the fuselage next to where Mike Logano is sitting on a flight from his home in Bellingham, Washington, to Los Angeles where he hopes to find Lisa, his runaway sister. He is sucked out of the plane and in 127 seconds falls 25,463 feet, every few thousand feet reliving moments in his life as he anticipates ending as a squash of raspberry-jammed organs and splintered bone. The montage from his past includes: ...ignoring a plea for help from a Navy petty officer who is pushed overboard from an aircraft carrier by another sailor. ...rescuing a stray dog from being terrorized by street thugs throwing firecrackers at him just for kicks. ... his guilt-ridden sister, Lisa, running away after falsely implying a relationship with the parish priest. ...the suicide of high school friend Patsy, a nerdette loner devoted to restoring an old jeep, who he took to the senior prom, mistaking his friendship for something more. ...chasing wannabe gangbanger, Poocho, onto a rooftop after he beat a woman Mike worked for during an attempted robbery. Trying to get away, Poocho tries to jump to another roof, falls, and is paralyzed from the waist down. But Mike is one of the lucky few who survives a free fall from that altitude, his terminal velocity slowed by a thick Olympic National Forest canopy of spruce and hemlock over a 15 foot deep snowdrift. However, beyond his physical injuries, the trauma of his fall leaves him in a deep fugue state of dissociative amnesia without memory of his past identity. He is found by Kaydee Metcaff who was hunting for elk nearby when she heard the crash through the trees. An ex-army sniper, she has sought the solitude of the forest as a refuge from her PTSD. As she nurses his physical injuries he realizes he is presumed dead and must build a new identity instead of trying to recover one he has totally lost. He decides to build his new life as Mike Logan, and discovers he is a talented chef, perhaps a remnant of his past. For a close circle of friends he creates unique wild game meals and he and Kaydee successfully open a restaurant on the shore of nearby Lake Quinalt. But he is confronted with how to create a recipe for the identity of Mike Logan with ingredients from Mike Logano's past.

Elliot Jacoby is a corporate video director in mid-life crisis who lies to his clingy girl friend about having leukemia in order to avoid a permanent commitment. But he realizes the lie has spread faster than the phantom disease when a cancer research company, hearing about his "terminal" condition, hires him to write and direct their centennial video. They also want him to make appearances on TV and at charitable events as part of a public relations campaign. Knowing that revealing the truth would destroy his career, he reluctantly agrees. Life becomes even more complicated when Elliot falls in love with Sandra, the company's communications director. Believing there's no future with the "dying" Elliot, Sandra tries to avoid becoming involved with him, but she cannot deny her feelings. He, however, is unable to consummate their love knowing that his whole relationship with her is based on a lie. The relationship suffers even more trauma when a car accident puts Elliot into a coma. In the hospital Sandra learns he never had cancer and, furious for being played the fool, she stalks out of the ICU and his life. Days later Elliot comes out of his coma, and is confronted by a doctor who, reviewing the results of tests performed while Elliot was comatose, confirms the presence of a terminal cancer. Stunned that God would play such a cosmic joke on him, Elliot knows he must put his life in order, open his heart to Sandra and tell her the cancer he invented has become a reality. When Sandra sees his new found honesty she is sure their love can now have a fresh start. But not before telling Elliot she hired an actor to play the role of the doctor who confirmed the presence of the cancer.