Snow Angels

A story of love lost and found in a small town, SNOW ANGELS is a heartrending portrayal of three couples in various stages of life orbiting around each other in search of connection and meaning. An unexpected act of violence disrupts the lives of these intertwined couples revealing the profound moments in which they each realize how precarious and remarkable life can be.



On a cold afternoon, with snow on the ground, the high school band is practicing for the last football game. They hear shots. Flashback a few weeks before. Arthur is a high school student, bussing at a restaurant. Annie and Barb are waitresses there - Annie was Arthur's babysitter when he was little. She's now separated from her husband Glenn, who's on the wagon, starting a new job, praying to Jesus, and trying to prove he has his balance back so he can see more of their small daughter, Tara. Annie's seeing someone else, Arthur's parents have just separated, and Arthur is attracted to Lila, a new student at the high school. It's a small town, people's lives cross. Written by jhailey@hotmail.com





SYNOPSIS

On a cold afternoon, with snow on the ground, the high school band is practicing for the last football game. They hear shots.

Flashback a few weeks before. Arthur (Michael Angarano) is a high school student, working as a bus-boy at a Chinese restaurant. Annie (Kate Beckinsale) and Barb (Amy Sedaris) are waitresses there.

Annie was Arthur's babysitter when he was little. She's now separated from her husband Glenn (Sam Rockwell), who's on the wagon, starting a new job, praying to Jesus, and trying to prove he has his balance back so he can see more of their small daughter, Tara (Grace Hudson). Annie also cares for her ill mother. Glenn lives with his parents. He has found a job selling carpets, but his father wants to him get a real job such as in real estate sales.

Annie is having an affair with Barb's husband, Nate (Nicky Katt), which eventually serves to only make her unhappier, as she feels great guilt over betraying her best friend. Annie meets at a motel outside town to have sex with him, while Glenn is in charge of Tara for the day.

Glenn asks Annie out on a date. Annie agrees even though she is not super impressed with the fact that Glenn has an entry level menial job at the Carpet Warehouse. Glenn wants to see a movie with Annie, which she politely declines. Glenn suspects Annie of seeing someone in town.

Arthur, who's a bit of a misfit, has a troubled home life caused by his constantly clashing parents Louise (Jeannetta Arnette) and Don (Griffin Dunne), both of whom often forget about him. Louise has recently kicked Don out of the house for being a bad husband and father. Arthur is attracted to Lila (Olivia Thirlby), a new student at the high school. Lila has a knack for photography. She has signed up to take the yearbook photos so she can get art credit for her class.

Barb suspects Nate of having sex with Annie, when she finds a motel receipt in his pants. Barb is specifically angry as she is pulling double shifts at the restaurant to support Nate. Nate calls Annie and wants to meet her and confront her. Annie catches up with Nate beforehand and realizes that Nate also didn't contradict Barb, when she took Annie's name. Barb and Annie come face to face at the restaurant the next day. Barb wants Annie to quit, but Annie needs the money. Glenn is also pestering Annie, about her sleeping with Nate in their bed. Glenn finds Nate's car outside Annie's house and starts to make a scene. Glenn is again drunk. Annie has to pull her gun out to get Glenn to leave.

Tara wanders off while Annie is asleep, drained over having meaninglessly destroyed her friendship with Barb and suffering from a bad cold, falls asleep on the couch. When Annie wakes up, she finds Tara missing and calls the police. Annie looks all over the neighborhood and fails to find Tara. Barb also joins the search. The police fetch Glenn from his workplace and inform him about Tara missing and question him to rule out the kidnapping angle. The school is closed early, and all the students are asked to participate in the search for Tara. The whole town spends hours desperately searching for Tara, before Arthur finds her body while smoking pot with his friend. To Annie's horror, Tara fell into the lake while playing and drowned when the water froze over.

In the aftermath, Annie is distraught, and Nate will not allow Glenn to come anywhere near Annie. Glenn admits to Nate that while he can forgive Nate for being an adulterer, he finds it difficult to forgive Annie. Annie asks Nate to leave as she found out that Nate was cheating on her with another woman, while Tara had gone missing, and she was trying to find Nate at work.

Arthur is really angry with Don as he sent a letter to Louise that he wants to come back home. Arthur feels that Don is betraying Louise again as he recently saw Don with another woman. Arthur wants Don to make up his mind.

Glenn reaches out to Annie over her place of work, but Annie is livid at Glenn for meddling with her life. Glenn is now angry at Annie for disrespecting Tara's death as all he wants to talk about is Tara.

Glenn distraught over the death of his little girl, Tara, breaks into Annie's home with his shotgun and waits for her return. Upon Annie's return Glenn grabs her and forcibly washes her feet. Covering her mouth as she cries and screams at him, he drags a barefoot Annie by the collar into the snowy woods. With her kneeling, back turned to him, Glenn holds his gun to her head and tells her to say when she's ready (to be shot). The movie presumably ends with their murder-suicide, explaining the shots heard before the flashback.