Two 12-year-olds, who live on an island, fall in love with each other and elope into the wilderness. While people set out on a search mission, a violent storm approaching them catches their attention.
Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, as a young boy and girl fall in love they are moved to run away together. Various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down - which might not be such a bad thing.—Production
September, 1965, a storm is three days away from the New England coast. At an island camp, a Khaki Scout's gone missing: he's Sam, 12, a bespeckled misfit, an orphan. Ward, his by-the-book scoutmaster, organizes a search after calling Captain Sharp, the local police. Sam is running away with Suzy, his pen pal, the laconic oldest child in a quirky and unhappy household of two lawyers (one of whom is having an affair with Sharp). As Sam and Suzy sort through their own issues, they stay a step ahead of the searchers while the storm gets closer. Social Services suggests Sam may need electroshock therapy and an orphanage. Is there scouts' honor, and what of the sad Sharp?—<[email protected]>
New Penzance Island, 1965. Twelve year old Sam Shakusky has left a note for Randy Ward, Master of Khaki Scout Troop 55, that he has voluntarily left Camp Ivanhoe at Fort Lebanon, where the troop is stationed, and is resigning from the scouts. It isn't until this incident that Master Ward finds out that Sam is an orphan in the foster care system, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Billingsley, who operate a foster care factory of sorts, his current foster parents. This information was not included within Sam's file. This event places Sam's status within the social services system in jeopardy. Master Ward, with the Island's Police Department's Captain Duffy Sharp and all of Khaki Scout Troop 55, go on a quest for the missing Sam, a task which evokes mixed emotions from the troop members, most who don't like Sam and see him as being emotionally disturbed. Elsewhere on the island, married lawyers Walt and Laura Bishop find that their oldest of four offspring and only daughter, twelve year old Suzy Bishop, is also missing. From a stack of correspondence they find, which amount to love letters, they learn that Suzy has probably run off with Sam, who they don't even know. With Sam's scouting knowledge and Suzy's plentiful stock of supplies, they may be able to elude their trackers for quite a while. But as this large group search for the young pair, what they hope to accomplish may change as they come to understand Sam and Suzy's individual and combined situations.—Huggo
Off the coast of mid-1960s New England, on the small island of New Penzance, a secret year-long correspondence between two 12-year-old outcasts, beautiful Suzy and unpopular Sam, has culminated in a bold act of defiance. As a result, the impulsive kids embark on a challenging quest for answers into the great unknown, unaware that their worried parents and a team of no-nonsense officials are hot on their trail. And now, a violent storm is approaching. But independence, happiness, and life demand sacrifice. Can innocent adolescent love flourish under the pale moonlight?—Nick Riganas
In 1965, on an idyllic New England Island called New Penzance, twelve-year-old orphan Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) is attending a "Khaki Scout" summer camp, Camp Ivanhoe, led by Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton).
Other camp attendees are Gadge (Chandler Frantz), Deluca (Robert Hadlock), Skotak (Gabriel Rush), Nickelby (Tommy Nelson), Izod (L.J. Foley), Panagle (Andreas Sheikh), Redford (Lucas Hedges) and others. Each member of the camp has specifically designated tasks.The Island itself is 16 miles long, forested with old growth pine and maple trees. There are no paved roads, and mail is delivered by air. The island has miles of intersecting footpaths and dirt trails. A ferry runs 2 times day from Stone Cove.
Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) lives on the island with her attorney parents Walt (Bill Murray) and Laura (Frances McDormand), and three younger brothers in a house called Summer's End.Sam and Suzy met the previous summer during a church performance of Noye's Fludde and they remained pen pals over the following year.
They made a secret pact to reunite the following summer and run away together. Sam sneaks away from the camp without the knowledge of Ward. Ward notices Sam's absence at breakfast the following morning and realizes that he has run away from the camp. He reports the matter to Island Police led by Captain Sharp.Sharp calls up Sam's parents and speaks to Howard Billingsley (Lucas Hedges), who says that Sam is an Orphan and that they are his foster parents. Howard also says that Sam is not invited back to their home, as it is not fair to the other kids. Howard says that social services will be in touch for the next steps regarding Sam.It is shown that Suzy's mom is having a secret affair with Police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis).
Sam brings camping equipment (canoe, air rifle, fishing tackle, 2 bedrolls and 10 pounds of sundries), and Suzy brings six books (from the library), her cat, toiletries, and a record player. They spend several days hiking and camping together in the wilderness with the goal of reaching a secluded cove on the island, which they name Moonrise Kingdom. Sam is a trained Scout and can survive in the wild by living off the land.
Eventually, Suzy's parents realize that she has run away from home. Laura finds Suzy's correspondence with Sam. The parents realize that both Suzy and Sam were troubled kids and connected over letters when they shared how society does not understand them. Sam proposed that they run away, and Suzy accepted. Sharp launches a search for the kids using all of Ward's scouts.The kids stick to the seldom used trails on the Island. They dance on the beach in their underwear and their young romance blossoms as they share a kiss.Along the way Sam's peer scouts catch up with him & even attack him & Suzy (For some reason nobody liked Sam very much). But Sam has excellent hunting skills & Suzy is somewhat of a bad-ass, together they are able to fight the scouts off (one of the scouts is stabbed in the back with a pair of scissors by Suzy) & keep moving to remain untraceable.An old teach of Sam remembers that Sam used to fascinated by one particular indigenous trail on the Island and believes that he knows where the kids are headed.
Suzy's parents, the police, and the Scout master eventually find them at the cove.Suzy returns with her parents and is forbidden from seeing Sam again. Sam stays with police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) while they await Social Services (Tilda Swinton), who will place him in a "juvenile refuge" because his foster parents no longer wish to house him.
Sharp & Scout Master Ward are worried that Social Services want to subject Sam to shock therapy due to his violent conduct, even though the incidents in his report were actually conducted by Suzy. Suzy's parents being lawyers made sure that all the blame went to Sam & he was accused of kidnapping Sam & then forcing her to participate in violence.
The Scouts, who previously were not kind to Sam, later decide it is their duty to help the young lovers run away again. They believe that Sam is emotionally distant as he is a disadvantaged orphan.Suzy, Sam, and the other Scouts seek out the help of Cousin Ben (Jason Schwartzman), an older relative of one of the Scouts who works at the larger Khaki Scout summer camp, Fort Lebanon, run by Commander Pierce (Harvey Keitel). They enact this escape with Suzy & Sam just before a monster storm hits the island. The next morning Ward realizes his whole scout troop is missing & raises an alarm to Commander Pierce. Cousin Ben marries off Sam & Suzy in an illegal civil ceremony.
As Ben prepares to take Sam & Suzy away to a safe location, they are discovered by commander Pierce, who raises an alarm. The storm strikes & Sam is hit by lightning. Pierce informs Sharp, who informs Ward & Bishops & then asks Social Services to converge on Fort Lebanon as well. The local dam at Fort Lebanon bursts & a flash flood in imminent.Everyone converges at the local church with social services adamant on taking Sam away & Sharp taking a stand that Sam will not be subjected to juvenile refuge. After many twists and turns, Sam and Suzy eventually are apprehended on a church steeple during a violent hurricane and flash flood. The church steeple is destroyed by lightning, but everyone survives.
Sharp decides to become Sam's legal guardian, saving him from the orphanage and allowing him to remain on the island and maintain contact with Suzy. At Summer's End, Sam paints a landscape of the cove and then slips out the window as Suzy and her brothers are called to dinner.
