Summer Help - Synopsis

Summer Help is the story of three women from different generations and cultures.

Emma Stafford, a twenty-five year old Englishwoman, has come to spend the summer as an au pair in New Jersey, mainly to escape from Paul, the abusive husband who will not believe their relationship is over.

Jeannie Wright, a suburban housewife in her mid-forties, is struggling to find purpose in a life which consists of maintaining a large, beautiful house in the absence of her workaholic husband, Daniel, whom she suspects of having an affair.

Georgia Wright, at twelve the eldest, and yet most timid of Jeannie’s two daughters, is at the vulnerable age where fantasy often seems more real than reality. Tormented by her nine-year-old sister, Amanda, she escapes into books.

Jeannie toys with the idea of a lesbian relationship, and Emma wonders whether she really is attracted to Tom, the neighbor abandoned by a glamorous wife in pursuit of a singing career. Meanwhile, Georgia begins an Internet relationship with a mysterious figure who calls himself Petrarch and purports to be an Australian teenager, but is really Paul, intent on finding Emma.

At a pool party hosted by neighbors Rula and Chad, Jeannie finally resolves her marital problems, and begins a new career as a party caterer, while Tom is reunited with his estranged wife. However, Georgia is able to slip away from the party and meet Petrarch, who kidnaps her.

In the showdown at the Swim Club, Georgia finds new reserves of courage, and Emma is finally able to face down her ex-husband and see past him to a new life.

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