Tamar Feinkind, Director, Writer 

Sloan Grant(s) Received: 2023, The Black List, Screenwriting Fellowship

Project Type: Feature 

Genre: Drama

Length: 110 pages 

Field of Science: Infectious Diseases, Healthcare

Stage: Development 

Synopsis: 

September, 1982. DEBORAH ROSEN, a closeted lesbian with a steely exterior, is a second-year resident at a Bronx clinic. Lately, her gay male patients are being stricken with a strange illness. Senior doctors like DR. STEPHEN WRIGHT quietly pass them off to younger staff, while residents like BRETT struggle to care for men their own age. Deb feels like she’s working alone, and the pressure mounts. Her only comfort comes from sipping mason jars of her late mother’s homemade broth — it gives her an illusion of control and health.

To her surprise, Deb finds herself critical of these frail, sick men — feelings that catch her off guard, especially as someone in the gay community. Her friends make things worse. Sexually liberated but rage-filled NABEELA, and Deb’s warm, activist girlfriend, CINDY, accuse her of being just like the homophobic doctors she resents.

But Deb hasn’t told anyone about the memories haunting her lately — memories of her parents. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Deb lost her father to suicide when she was nine. Her mother, TZIPPORAH, who recently died of cancer, was cold and distant, prizing survival above all. Tzipporah praised Deb for her toughness. Now, anytime emotion rises, Deb numbs it with more broth and keeps going — even ignoring voicemails from a Polish woman, named TATIANA, about a mysterious box of her mother’s.

Deb’s life changes when a loud, homeless woman named RENE stumbles into the clinic with a serious eye infection. Rene is so emaciated that Deb flashes back to images of starving relatives in concentration camps. Running tests, Deb finds Rene’s white blood cells are severely depleted — and she’s pregnant. With her friends’ accusations and ghosts of her past swirling, Deb lines her apartment with plastic and lets Rene crash, just for a night.
But Rene soon learns shelters are full or won’t accept the sick, and the only AIDS clinic is for men. One night becomes a week, then a month. Deb grows close to Rene and begins stealing medication to help her. Meanwhile, she hides Rene from Cindy — until Cindy finds out. Cindy isn’t angry about Rene, but devastated by Deb’s secrecy. Realizing Deb hides everything including herself, Cindy breaks up with Deb.

By January, the illness is officially named AIDS. Rene, now eight months pregnant, is stable. Deb feels strangely grounded — until a tense theater outing turns explosive. Nabeela brings Cindy, hoping for reconciliation. When the group bumps into Dr. Wright, Cindy nearly outs Deb. Feeling betrayed, Deb flees.

Panicked about being exposed, Deb reaches for her mother’s broth — but every jar is empty. Rene drank it. Deb explodes in fury. Rene, hurt, moves out.

Back at the clinic, Brett is accidentally stuck with an AIDS-contaminated needle. Confronted with his mortality, he assaults Deb. During the scuffle, her bag spills, revealing stolen meds. Hurt by her rejection, Brett tells Wright about the pills, and Deb is fired.

Lost, Deb finally visits Tatiana, the woman behind the voicemails. Tatiana explains she was friends with Tzipporah in Poland. When Tzipporah fell ill, she asked Tatiana to hold onto a box for her, fearing that Deb would find it too soon. Now that Tzipporah’s passed, Tatiana gives the box to Deb. Inside are photos, letters, and tokens of love — proof Tzipporah adored Deb. But instead of feeling comforted, Deb is enraged. Why couldn’t her mother have shown this love when alive? Tatiana gently notes: Tzipporah was trying to protect her.

Realizing she’s inherited the instinct to push people away, Deb races to apologize to Rene and Cindy. But just as she finds them, Rene goes ghostly pale — she’s bleeding. Deb, Cindy, and Rene race to the clinic, Tzipporah’s memories flying from the open box in the backseat.
At the clinic, despite Wright’s protests, Deb rushes Rene into surgery. She saves the baby — but loses Rene.

Covered in blood, Deb knows she must adopt the baby. She asks Cindy to help — not to fix their relationship, but to start again. Cindy agrees, slowly.

A month later, Deb and Cindy take Rene’s baby girl to a pediatrician researching AIDS. Impressed by Deb’s knowledge, he suggests a fellowship. Then, he warns them: the baby has a 30% chance of being HIV-positive.

The future is uncertain, but Deb, Cindy and the baby move forward – choosing to build something in the shadow of loss.