Mysterious

In Hutchinson, Kansas, eight-year-old Neil McCormick and his teammate Brian Lackey begin a summer Little League season. The team is shadowed by a devastating betrayal: their coach sexually abuses Neil, and the man leaves town after that summer. The act is presented as a deeply personal wound that will shape Neil’s later view of love and trust.

The abuse colors Neil’s understanding of affection, twisting his sense of desire and trust. As he grows, he becomes attracted to older men, a pattern traced back to the summer’s betrayal. The memory remains a private, shaping force in his relationships.

Brian’s home life offers little attention or care, and his memories are murky from the start. He recalls a rain-soaked day and a five-hour blackout that ends with him waking in the crawl space, nose bleeding. The moment seeds long-lasting physical and psychic disturbances and unsettling dreams of a bluish hand.

Throughout childhood, Brian experiences vivid, unsettling dreams of a strange blue hand and a boy wearing the same Little League uniform. The dreams suggest a connection to events he cannot fully recall. They plant a seed of latent memory that will surface years later.

Neil enters prostitution at fifteen and continues into the late 1980s and early 1990s, first in Hutchinson and then expanding to New York City. The work exposes him to a harsher world while the friends and places change around him. The experience intensifies his longing for connection and stability.

In New York City, Neil forms a close bond with Wendy Peterson, his best friend who becomes a bridge to a different life. Her support helps him navigate the complexities of his work and his need for connection. The friendship marks a pivot toward rebuilding his life.

Neil has a powerful, liminal encounter with a dying client named Zeke who asks only to be touched. The experience prompts him to reevaluate his occupation and his craving for genuine connection over commerce. He gradually steps back from prostitution.

After leaving prostitution, Neil accepts a more ordinary job at a sandwich shop, supported by Wendy’s encouragement. The change signals a move toward stability and healing, even as the past quietly threads through his days. The city stays a reminder of what he left behind.

Brian meets Avalyn Friesen, who shares his belief in experiences beyond ordinary memory. The friendship opens a space to discuss the strange dreams and blue glow that haunt him. It also deepens his sense that memory might be more than what he can consciously explain.

Avalyn makes sexual advances toward Brian, triggering panic and his decision to withdraw rather than confront the feelings he cannot name. The moment underscores Brian’s difficulty in articulating what he has experienced. He retreats into silence rather than risk betraying his memories.

Brian discovers a photograph of his Little League team and realizes Neil is the boy who appears in his recurring dreams. The discovery links the past to the present, crystallizing the connection he has always sensed. It starts to redraw the boundary between memory and reality.

During a Christmas visit to Hutchinson, Neil returns home after a brutal rape and beating by a client. The violence exposes the fragility of healing and the persistence of trauma. The moment becomes a turning point that forces Neil and Brian to reckon with their shared past.

The two men uncover the truth about what happened that summer: the coach invited Brian to ride home, then took them to his house for sexual acts, first by the coach and then between themselves. Brian realizes his earlier memories were coping mechanisms, reframing their childhoods. The night ends with Neil offering comfort to his old friend.

With the truth acknowledged, Neil and Brian confront years of pain and reconnect. The moment is tempered and compassionate, ending with a sense of healing rather than vengeance. The film closes on carolers singing Silent Night as a calm, reflective close.