The In-Between

Tessa spends the morning taking photos in a coastal town and wanders into a local theater to watch a classic French film. Skylar sits nearby and offers to translate, sparking a conversation about art and romance. They discover they view the world differently, yet a tentative connection begins to form.

80 days after the initial encounter, Tessa is encouraged to apply to RISD for her photography. While photographing a rowing meet, she unexpectedly finds Skylar again. They spend the day together, sharing her world through her lens, and at the Empyrean Skylar teaches her to waltz and they kiss, with him promising to return for the summer.

After the fireworks, Tessa shows Skylar her darkroom and portfolio and opens up about her mother's abandonment. They spend the day on a boat, he teaches her to row, and he declares his love, culminating in a kiss on the shore. The moment deepens their bond and foreshadows future choices.

Skylar grows frustrated when a photo Tessa gifted him is shown in an exhibit, highlighting their communication difficulties. He wants her to realize they could have a future, while she struggles to express her feelings openly. The emotional tension marks a turning point in their relationship.

Shannon helps Tessa try to reach Skylar by reading about the In Between. They experiment with planchette, scrying, and electronic voice phenomena, and the built-in GPS in Tessa's adoptive mother’s car points to a location connected to their strongest bond. This guidance nudges Tessa toward a pivotal search.

Tessa learns that Skylar is going to Oregon to support his father for the year, leaving the East Coast behind. She views this as a sign just as she has applied to RISD, and she makes the difficult decision to end their relationship. The distance looming over them becomes a emotional testing ground.

Shannon drives Tessa to the places they shared the deepest connections and the two finally reconnect at The Empyrean, though the moment remains imperfect. Skylar shatters a mirror in a symbolic gesture, signaling a breaking point, and their activity is traced via Tessa’s mobile by the police.

Back at home, Tessa's adoptive parents push her hard, and the doctors reveal that her heart needs repair. Shannon helps arrange an escape with Skylar’s aid, distracting the nurses with electronics and guiding them toward the accident site.

In a flashback to the night of the accident, Shannon convinces Tessa to pursue Skylar before he leaves. The timelines overlap as they are briefly reunited in Paris, echoing the Doisneau moment, then return to a beach house where her adoptive mom’s call interrupts them and she vows to live on.

Paraphrased in the moment, paramedics attend Tessa’s collapsed body and she and Skylar share a brief reunion. The emotional surge reinforces her resolve to keep living, fueled by love that she believes never truly dies.

Some time later, Tessa auditions for RISD using the photographs she captured with Skylar, speaking to the idea of the In Between as a window for final connection. The project becomes a testament to their shared moments and the concept that time can bloom anew through art.

The film opens with a traffic accident; two young people lie on the road with the girl barely moving and the boy motionless. Tessa wakes up in the hospital, setting the stage for a story that weaves past and present together.

In the mid-credits moment, Tessa and Skylar wander along the beach, tracing their silhouettes in the sand and reaffirming a connection that stretches beyond the hospital and timelines.