The Hi-Line

Official Selection of 1999 Sundance Film Festival,Dramatic Competition

Vera Johnson, (Rachael Leigh Cook - "She's All That"), is two years out of high school but still lives with her parents Clyde and Laura, (Stuart Margolin and Margot Kidder - "Superman"). Marking time with a meaningless job, she yearns for life beyond the limits of her small Montana town. Her wish comes true when Sam Polvino, (Ryan Alosio), a stranger from the south side of Chicago, arrives to turn Vera's world upside down. Posing as a scout from a Chicago employment agency, Sam calls Vera to set up a job interview. She is cautiously excited, naively believing that this could be her ticket out. Sam reveals the true purpose of his visit when he delivers a package addressed to Vera Johnson from a man named Ray Boone, a drifter who spent his dying days in an Illinois penitentiary. Inside is a letter in which Boone confesses that he is Vera's true father. He also tells her about her real mother, a woman named Estelle Smith. Also in the package, in a simple plastic bag, Vera finds Ray Boone's ashes.

Vera is shocked to discover that she was adopted. She confronts Clyde and Laura, and they haltingly admit the truth. Desperate, Vera pleads with Sam to take her on a quest to find her birth mother, who last contacted Laura from a tiny outpost on the "Hi-Line," a vast, wind-blasted stretch just below the Canadian border. Obviously, strongly attracted to Vera, Sam agrees. As they drive, a stunning winter landscape unfolds around them. Vera finds herself increasingly intrigued by this mysterious man from the big city. She tries to seduce him, but Sam considers her vulnerability and pushes her away. They finally find her mother Estelle, now known as Singing Bird, (Tantoo Cardinal, "Smoke Signals"), a strong willed Native American woman. Vera angrily confronts the reclusive woman for abandoning her and learns the bittersweet truth about the love affair between her biological parents. Together, they ceremoniously spread Ray Boone's ashes over the snowy mountaintops of the Hi-Line.

By getting to know Singing Bird, Vera is forced to re-examine her identity, but in doing so, frees herself from her past, making way for a future filled with unlimited possibilities