Footprints on the Moon

A stylized sequence shows a spacecraft landing on the moon. Blackmann orders an extraction and an unconscious astronaut is dragged out and left on the surface. The craft then lifts off, leaving him stranded and setting up the memory-fractured premise of the story.

Alice wakes in her Rome apartment to a ringing phone. Mary asks to be picked up from the airport and mentions she tried to call yesterday but got no answer. The conversation hints at a fragile routine and a mind in flux.

In the car on the way to work, Alice reveals she has been having nightmares about Footprints on the Moon, the film about an abandoned astronaut. The dreams blur reality and push her toward unresolved past events. The moment deepens her sense of paranoia about what she is forgetting.

At the government offices, Alice is reprimanded for two days of absence. She suddenly learns it is Thursday, not Tuesday. Her memory stalls at Monday afternoon during a live translation, leaving a two day gap that she cannot explain.

Returning to her apartment, she finds a bloodstained dress she does not recall buying, a torn postcard from Garma, and a missing earring. The memories of Footprints on the Moon and a peacock window haunt her as she investigates. The clues push her toward Garma for answers.

Alice travels to Garma and accepts a ride to her hotel from Henry, a friendly man with a bandaged hand. She feels he is familiar, though she cannot place why. This marks the start of her search for a past she cannot trust.

At the Garma hotel, Paula Burton mistakes Alice for Nicole, a woman who was on the island earlier in the week. Paula recalls Nicole’s rude behavior, erratic actions, and a fire in the woods before she disappeared. Alice struggles to separate rumor from reality as her nightmares persist.

The next day Paula leads Alice into the woods where she finds burned clothes, scattered government papers, and a stray dog playing with a long red wig. On the beach she runs into Henry again, who drops hints that he knows more than he should. The pieces begin to align with her fractured memory.

Hairdressers and shop clerks testify to dealings with someone matching Alice under the name Nicole. Alice goes to a general store and learns Nicole placed a particular order, then buys a dress identical to the bloodstained one and pockets a pair of scissors. The trail tightens around her altered identity.

Over drinks at a Garma hotel bar, Henry questions her and hints he knows more about her situation. His insistence that she has something to tell him unsettles Alice and she ends the meeting early. The tension between truth and manipulation grows.

Alice discovers her wallet is missing; Mrs. Heim leaves a note saying she found it. They arrange to meet to retrieve it, but a delay causes her to miss the last boat of the evening. The isolation on Garma amplifies her fear and confusion.

The mounting stress and fragmented memory trigger a mental breakdown as memories of Footprints on the Moon surge back. She runs into the woods and faints, overwhelmed by the past she cannot fully access. The fainting sets the stage for what happens next on the island.

Alice awakens in a seaside mansion and finds her missing earring in a room with a distinctive peacock window. Henry appears, explaining that they briefly met as teenagers on Garma and that his presence is tied to jogging her memory. He suggests the dissociative episode created the Nicole identity and a place she returns to for happiness.

Henry describes his attempt to help her remember and denies a real conspiracy, but Alice remains convinced of a larger plot. She stabs Henry with the scissors and flees the room. Nurses from a psychiatric ward chase her down the beach and she is taken to a secure hospital, leaving the ending ambiguous.