Summaries

Synopsis

At 7 30 a.m. on a cold morning in Greensburg, Pennsylvania ,20-year-old Lissa Maruska (Lindsey Shaw) waits with other patients in a doctor s waiting room, to find out if she is pregnant. She contemplates the declining population of her home town and the number of birthdays people may or may not be having.Lissa writes in her journal that her last birthday was the last time she made her own choices and mistakes. She recalls intimate moments with her boyfriend Daniel. On her 18th birthday, Lissa and Daniel (Leland Alexander Wheeler) sit across from each other in a restaurant. Lissa is angry and rebellious. She sees the future with Daniel crumbling with Daniel soon leaving to go to college. Later, they are parked in a car with Aimee (Dana Maret) snorting trucker's meth. When a police officer approaches, Lisa jump in back seat to make out with Aimee so the officer does not notice their drug use.Lissa is called into the doctor's office. Lissa works as a waitress, a job she only tolerates, The worst part of the job is the repetition. As she walks into the examination room, she recalls the demographic statistics of Greensburg including its level of poverty, education and childbirth. She knows she will never do any better that the bleak future the town offers. As the nurse (Mary Agnes Shearon) takes her vital readings, the nurse notes a fast heart rate and high blood pressure. Lissa is a heavy smoker and binge drinker, smokes marijuana and uses recreational drugs.While she waits on the doctor, Lissa recalls her youth and how it shattered when her family life fell apart. She recalls her 19th birthday. Daniel had returned from college and was very enthused about his philosophy class. They go to a techno club and do drugs. Lissa has a hard time relating to Daniel's college experiences.Dr. Woods (James P. Engel) finally enters the examination room. Lissa is hesitant to discuss with Dr. Woods why she is there. She asks the doctor what he wants for his kids' future. Then she starts to discuss her 20th birthday. On this birthday, she had pleasurable sex with Daniel but she understood that the relationship seemed to be over when he left. She discloses to the doctor that this the reason why she is there.Lissa recounts the nervous in her home, while a home pregnancy test was getting its result. The time between the test seemed to slow down and was agonizing. Her results of the two tests she had taken showed one positive and one being negative. Dr. Woods states the only way to be sure if Lissa is pregnant is to have blood test and directs her to the nurse. In her mind, Lissa reviews all the health effects of pregnancy and the pain and blood of childbirth.As she waits for her blood draw, Lissa remembers a dinner with her deeply depressed, angry, silent father who piled his green beans aside his plate unable to eat or communicate and a frustrated mother who had seemingly given up on him. The nurse struggles to find the vein in Lissa's arm. Lissa's father Robert (Judd Nelson) started working in a mine when he was 18 as a beltman, a job he described as not so dangerous and paid well. His older brother, also a coal miner, was concerned about Robert at work in his non communicative withdrawn state. The nurse finally successfully draws Lissa's blood in the syringe and tells Lissa all there is to do now is wait for the results of the test. Lissa recalls having a sandwich with her dad and he, out of character, stops to tell her how proud he is of his daughter, holds her hand and tells her everything was going to be fine.Lisa leaves the doctor's office and has a panic attack in her car. She recounts the events of the morning of her father suicide and details him waking up, having coffee, (though the coroner's report said there was a high level of alcohol in his blood), driving to the remote destination where he shot himself. As she drives away from the doctors' office, she recalls that after she got the news of her dads death, Lissa wished that she could start over from the first of school and correct the mistakes she made in life.Lissa and her mother Joan (Dendrie Taylor) have been estranged for some time. Her mother lives a patterned life since her father's death of medication, working as a union representative, and self-medicating with more pills and wine each evening. That night as Lissa waits for the pregnancy test results, she brings herself to visit her mother's house to discuss her situation. The conversation explodes into an argument about the unmet expectations Lissa's mom had of Lissa. Joan characterizes Lissa's recent life as a series of wasted opportunities. For her part, Lissa blames her mother for her father's deterioration to suicide. Lissa recounts incidents in her life where her mother belittled her. Her mother apologizes and finally calms the heated exchanged.In the bleak loneliness of the truck in which he took his life, her father hesitates pulling the trigger of the handgun. He first slit his wrists before pulling the trigger with the barrel of the gun pointed at his head. Her mother assures Lissa that her father was never happy or felt accomplished, but he was proud of his daughter. Then they discuss the day before his death. An enraged Robert broke down the bedroom door with his wife behind it and assaulted her intending to kill his family before he killed himself. Joan was able to stop Robert from strangling her by stabbing him with a scissors. Then she told him she was leaving him. He begged her not to tell his daughter what he did. Joan left the house looking for Lissa. Joan hid this story from her daughter so Lissa would have a more positive memory of her father.When Joan returned home that evening, all was calm and Lissa was there having a sandwich with her father. What they both seem to learn is that a mother's love for her child is unconditional and there is always an instinct to protect them. Joan summarizes the conversation telling Lissa that she can rightfully question everything in the past the who, the what and the where, but what matters is the now and what they do with it. Joan pledges her support to her daughter and together, pregnant or not, they can make everything okay.Lissa learns her pregnancy test results were negative. Through this moment however, Lissa has matured. She now understands that one day will be her time and she will be ready for the responsibility *she will face. Lissa and her mother celebrate their latest birthdays together.