Cemetery Junction

In the early 1970s, Freddie starts a job as a door-to-door life insurance salesman in their working-class town. He learns the rhythms of selling and the lure of a better life, even as he grapples with the moral weight of peddling fear. The new career sets him on a course that will pull him away from his friends and the life they know.

While out in town, Freddie runs into his old school sweetheart Julie, reigniting unresolved feelings. Their reunion hints at possible futures but also highlights the obstacles posed by family expectations. The encounter sharpens Freddie's sense that life and friendship are about to diverge.

Freddie discovers his boss is Julie's father, binding his career to a family tie. He watches Julie's fiancé, Mike Ramsay, the firm's top seller, and learns to use fear as a sales tool. The lessons reveal a path Freddie might take—and a conflict with his own conscience.

Bruce longs to escape Cemetery Junction and live life to the full, while Snork accepts the status quo and looks for romance along the way. Freddie, meanwhile, is torn between ambition, loyalty, and the pull of friendship. The trio's banter and differing dreams define their days.

Freddie reconnects with Julie, who dreams of world travel and becoming a photographer. Meanwhile Mike and Julie's father expect her to become a housewife, mirroring her mother's fate. The tension between love, aspiration, and duty begins to pull Freddie and Julie in opposite directions.

Freddie is invited to the firm's winner's ball to celebrate their achievements, and he brings Bruce and Snork as his guests. The event introduces them to a more polished social scene and tests their loyalties. For Freddie, the evening becomes a crossroads between friendship and the demands of success.

Snork takes the stage with the band, and the crowd responds with enthusiasm at first. He then tells a highly inappropriate joke, humiliating Freddie in front of everyone. The moment underscores the risks of unfiltered bravado and forces the group to confront the consequences of their choices.

The next day, Freddie thanks his clients for helping him start his career and learns that his very first client's husband has died. He wrestles with whether his selling does harm or helps people, and he questions whether to keep chasing sales. He and Bruce discuss leaving town, foreshadowing a possible escape.

Freddie invites Julie to a nightclub and convinces Snork to join them, proposing that they seize a night of possibility before leaving. The plan hints at broader dreams beyond Cemetery Junction. Tension about loyalty and future direction comes to a head as they plan a new step.

At the nightclub, Bruce dances with a black woman and is ridiculed by two men. His temper erupts, he assaults them, and he ends up in police cells overnight. The incident deepens his estrangement from Freddie and Snork and underscores his unresolved family pain.

Freddie accompanies Julie home and they develop the photos from the night. They discuss their feelings, Julie's engagement to Mike, and the path their lives might take together. Freddie confesses his love and asks Julie to travel with him, but she tells him to leave.

The following morning, Snork goes to a cafe and begins a relationship with Louise, changing his lonely trajectory. Bruce walks home and quietly makes amends with his father, signaling a potential for change. The day leaves the friends poised for new chapters.

Freddie arrives at the railway station to begin his travels, signaling the need to leave. Snork decides to stay behind, and Julie realizes that Mike's path would stifle her and decides to join Freddie's imagined journey. Their choices set the stage for a final pivot away from their old town.

Snork uses the station PA to announce that Bruce will not join Freddie on the journey. Freddie starts to depart, but Julie runs toward him, changing the moment's meaning. They sprint toward the train together, choosing a future beyond Cemetery Junction.