Synopsis of The Storm


Written by TK

Sydney is watching a terrible storm report on TV with her mother. The storm is the worst ever and it's headed directly for the Hansen house. Syd and her mother grab onto each other as the storm hits. Syd wakes up in bed, turns over and goes back to sleep.

Hansen kitchen in the morning
Syd greets Joanie who is complaining that Hannah kept her up all night. Joanie mentions the storm that's coming and how everyone is calling in sick. Syd says she wishes she had that luxury, but a city inspector is coming to the clinic today. Syd is hoping the clinic will be able to get city funds. Jim comes in commenting how he loves the sound of the wind. Joanie mentions that she called Robbie yesterday afternoon and he and Heather were still in bed. Joanie jokes that she knew Heather's wedding was cursed as soon as she asked Jim to walk her down the aisle. Jim protests. Syd leaves for work. The wind gusts as she walks out the kitchen door.

Clinic
Syd greets the inspector who rudely tells her he's late. She signs a form giving him full access to the clinic and says she hopes they can get city funds for capital improvement. The gruff inspector tells her he doesn't care, he doesn't approve funds, he just inspects. He says he wants to see the roof.

Robbie & Heather's apt.
Robbie and Heather are lolling around in bed. Robbie surprises Heather with an engagement ring and proposes. Heather hesitates, but accepts. Robbie says they should get married right away and pulls out two plane tickets. Heather is overwhelmed.

Barkery
Doug comes into the Barkery and tells Joanie he's going to help her batten down the hatches and ride out the storm. He's brought sand bags, but didn't actually have enough money to get sand. He predicts this is going to be the storm of all storms.

Jim's office
The dogs are all being particularly noisy. Jim is seeing an older Bloodhound that is shivering and hasn't eaten in three days. He tells the concerned owner to leave the dog with him for the day and he'll get some nutrients into him and see if he can figure out what's wrong. The owner leaves. The dogs in the office get even noisier, all barking at once as the storm approaches. Jim goes out to check the blustery weather.

Clinic
Izzy and Syd examine an older Chinese man who is there with his daughter. They suspect he might have hepatitis. Neither the father nor the daughter speak English, although the daughter attempts to communicate. Syd says the man needs to go the hospital and tells Izzy to call an ambulance. The inspector barges in telling Syd that he's done. Syd goes out to talk to him. He tells her that she failed inspection and he's closing the clinic down. She has one hour to vacate the premises.

Las Vegas
Robbie and Heather enter their hotel. Robbie tells Heather how he emptied his savings account: $1,700. They walk in and see the casino. Robbie's eyes light up and he says he's going to do a little gambling. Heather says she still needs a dress since the wedding is tomorrow morning. Robbie tells her to go get a dress as long as it's less than $140. He goes off gambling and Heather is left feeling a little abandoned.

Clinic
The clinic is basically empty except for Syd, Izzy, Patrice, and the elderly Chinese man and his daughter. An ambulance can't come to pick up the man due to the storm. Syd says they'll drive him to the hospital themselves. Patrice says that all of downtown is closed down and most of it is under two feet of water. Syd resigns herself to keeping him at the clinic, but tells Izzy and Patrice to go home since the clinic has been temporarily shut down. Izzy and Patrice refuse to leave her. Syd decides to do the man's blood work herself since obviously the lab isn't going to take care of it anytime soon.

Hansen house
Joanie and Doug struggle in the front door. The living room is full of dogs in cages. Jim comes up carrying a Chihuahua. His office in the basement flooded, and not only that, but the door blew open in a gust of wind and some of the dogs get away. Doug goes to get an Airedale from the kitchen and Joanie rambles to Jim about how sweet Doug is and what a great guy he is. Jim distractedly says Doug is complicated, and that's probably not what Joanie and Hannah need in their lives right now. Jim suddenly realizes he's got all the dogs except Sam, the elderly Bloodhound. Jim and Doug go outside to look for Sam.

Clinic
Syd has completed the man's blood work. He has Malaria. She realizes that what his daughter was trying to say earlier was Quinine. She goes to try to talk to the daughter. The daughter pulls out a ship-to-shore radio and gets her husband who is on a fishing boat ten miles out. Her husband speaks both English and Chinese. Syd is on the radio, trying to explain to the husband so that the husband can explain to the daughter. Unfortunately, the husband's voice fades away into static.

Las Vegas
Robbie is on a roll playing blackjack. Heather comes and says she found two dresses she likes. He tells her to get them both. He has over $10,000. He loses the next hand. Heather suggests he quit. He says you never quit on a losing hand. He gives her a pile of chips with which to buy her two dresses and says he'll come find her after the next winning hand.

Outside
Jim and Doug can't find Sam. They try to think like a Bloodhound to figure out where he might have gone. Jim remembers a nearby park that Sam's owner said he liked. They decided to look there.

Hansen house
Joanie is watching the news on TV. The storm is just getting worse. Joanie is on the phone with Syd. She is worried that Jim and Doug haven't come back yet, and distressed that she can't find Robbie at his apartment and Robbie hasn't called to ask if everything is okay. Syd says she's kinda busy, and tells Joanie to call her back if Jim and Doug still aren't back in an hour.

Clinic
Syd can't figure out what strain of Malaria the man has. There is a medicine they could treat him with, but it's at the County hospital. Patrice volunteers to walk there and get it. It's three miles.

Hansen house
Joanie is on the phone with the police station trying to get them to send someone out to look for her dad without actually filing a missing persons report. She gets put on hold again. Hannah is acting up, throwing her toy (a green pig) on the floor every time Joanie picks it up for her. Joanie goes to the window to the look out at the storm. Suddenly, a tree falls through the window, basically taking out a wall of the house and taking Joanie down with it. Hannah cries. A voice in the phone asks if anyone is there.

Hansen house
The news report says a state of emergency has been declared. Joanie is awake and basically okay, but she's trapped. She tells Hannah to throw her the phone. Hannah gurgles and throws her a toy phone.

Las Vegas
Heather comes back and Robbie has lost everything, including their plane tickets home. She is incredibly disappointed.

Hansen house
Joanie is still trying to get Hannah to throw her the phone but Hannah is blatantly not getting it. Joanie picks up the green pig next to her on the floor, winds it up and points it in the direction of the broom leaning up again the wall. The pig walks mechanically over and knocks into the broom. The broom falls into Joanie's hands.

Clinic
Syd talks to the daughter (Dong-Lu) for awhile in a stilted way. They have a cup of tea and talk about family. Dong-Lu is pregnant. Dong-Lu thanks Syd for her help. They hug. The lights go out and come back on. Izzy pops her head in and says that the phones are dead.

Hansen house
Joanie uses the broom to get the phone. Once she gets the phone she can't get through anywhere in Providence. She keeps getting an all circuits are busy message.

Las Vegas
Robbie is selling his cell phone for fifty dollars and Heather is standing by sadly. As the guy who buys it walks away, it rings. The guy gives the phone to Robbie. Robbie tells Joanie that he can't come over because he's out of town. The guy wants his new phone back. Robbie tells Joanie he has to go and gives the guy the phone.

Outside
Jim and Doug get into Jim's car. They realize that it's dark now, and they've looked everywhere and they can't find Sam. They also can't drive home in this weather. Doug uses the opportunity to tell Jim that he's fond of his daughter. Jim says he knows. Doug is trying to figure out a way to tell Joanie how he feels. Jim tells Doug how complicated Joanie's life is now. Doug says he thinks he can make Joanie happy. Jim tells Doug to take it slow, if it's meant to be it will happen. Doug asks if Sam had an owner before the one he has now. Jim says yes, and their old house is three blocks away. Jim and Doug get out of the car.

Las Vegas
Robbie is scrounging for money so he can go back to the tables. Heather tells Robbie that he's scaring her, and she doesn't want him to try to win the money back, she just wants him to stop. He doesn't understand. She runs off, upset, and he sits down at the closest blackjack table.

Clinic
The ship to shore crackles. Syd picks it up. The husband tells her that the ship is taking water, there's no time to call the Coast Guard, and he wants to say goodbye to his wife. Syd hands Dong-Lu the radio. Dong-Lu listens to her husband's desperate goodbye, and responds sadly. All she get back is static.

Hansen house
Joanie is still dialing. She finally reaches emergency services. Since she sounds okay on the phone, they tell her they'll be there in three hours. She is frustrated. She calls Jim's cell phone. He left his cell phone in the car.

Clinic
Patrice comes back from County hospital with the necessary medication.

Outside
Jim and Doug find the old house which is still vacant. They break in through the garage. Jim comments that Sam couldn't have come in the same way. Doug says if this is Sam's old house, he probably has a dozen ways to sneak in. Doug goes into dog mode on all fours and finds Sam cowered in a corner of the house.

Clinic
The elderly Chinese man's fever has broke. He's going to be okay. The inspector shows back up at the clinic telling everyone that they should have been out hours ago. Syd says she had a sick patient. The inspector says if everyone isn't out right away, the clinic will be shut down permanently. Syd says maybe the man is well enough to move now.

Las Vegas
Robbie is sitting dejectedly on a couch. Heather comes with her bags packed and hands him a plane ticket. She says he can pay her back later. He says he'll have to. He lost it all. Robbie notices that the ticket is for a flight that leaves in an hour. Heather says that if he really knew her, he'd know that she wants a formal wedding, and wants Jim to walk her down the aisle. She didn't want to get married in Vegas. And, she realizes, perhaps she didn't know him as well as she thought either. She walks away, telling him that they won't be sitting together on the plane.

Clinic
As Syd and the rest of the crew at the clinic are packing up to leave, the ship to shore radio crackles. It's the Coast Guard, asking if Dong-Lu is there. Her husband gets on. He's fine, they were rescued in time by the Coast Guard. The inspector yells that they all have to get out. Now! Syd yells at him for being so insensitive. Dong-Lu's water breaks.

Hansen house
Doug and Jim get back and find Joanie. They work together to pull her out from under the tree. She is fine and kisses Doug in gratitude. The kiss changes from one of thanks to one of passion.

Clinic
Dong-Lu is basically ready to deliver. The inspector is still bellowing about everyone leaving. Syd tells him that would endanger the lives of both mother and child. She orders the inspector to leave them alone. She tends to Dong-Lu. Dong-Lu begins to give birth to her baby.

Hansen kitchen, the next morning
Jim, Joanie and Syd gather in the kitchen and stare at the tree in their wall. Jim talks about how a good cleansing storm can sometimes be good. As they start to make breakfast, Robbie comes over. They ask where he was and he says he doesn't want to talk about it.


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