Sam's curiosity about life and death deepen on a family backpacking trip, where nature, loss, and the cycle of existence are explored through the lens of a six year old child.
On a family backpacking trip in the mountains, six-year-old Sam stumbles upon a decaying deer carcass, igniting his curiosity about life and death. His father reassures him with simple answers, but the questions linger in Sam’s mind as they continue their journey through the wilderness.
While hiking, Dad receives an unexpected phone call with unsettling news. Dad, struggling with his own grief, decides to wait before telling the kids, but the weight of the loss lingers in his silence. Meanwhile, Sam continues to explore the world around him, fascinated by nature’s quiet cycles.
Later, while fishing at the lake, Sam witnesses his father kill a fish for dinner. The brutal finality of it shakes him. Overwhelmed, he runs off, unable to fully understand the emotions stirring inside him. That night by the fire, Dad finally shares the news that their Grandpa’s has passed away.
Sam asks the hardest questions: Why did Grandpa have to die? Where is he now? Can we still visit him? His father, for the first time, doesn’t have all the answers. But Madeline, Sam’s older sister, offers wisdom from her book, explaining that those we lose never truly leave us—they become the elements: the trees, the wind, the water, the earth.
As Sam recalls his quiet observations of nature throughout the trip—the rustling leaves, the shifting clouds, the endless cycle of life—he begins to understand: death is not an ending, but a transformation.
Who can direct this screenplay? Author Only