Summer (2008) :: Synopsis

Synopsis

As kids, Shaun and Daz are inseparable, skipping school, racing bikes, knocking about down by the lake with Katy, Shaun's first love. Full of life, Shaun runs up against an education system that cannot contain him. He is squeezed and eventually spat out, taking Daz down with him as he self destructs.

Twenty years later, Daz is in a wheelchair and has eight weeks to live. Shaun is left to reflect on one gilded summer of love, sex and loyalty that marked the end of his innocence. His memories lead him to track down Katy, in a bid for personal redemption. This is a story of bright lives unfulfilled, of hopes that are snuffed out and then, finally, rekindled.

Long Synopsis (Contains Spoilers)

Growing up in small-town Britain, Shaun and Daz are joined at the hip. Through primary school and on in to secondary, Shaun is the scallywag, the charmer, the rebel. He's also dyslexic, frustrated by his own hands and their inability to make words do his bidding. All the way, Daz is in thrall to his best mate, his sidekick and partner in crime.

Twenty years on, Shaun washes, shops and cares for Daz 24 hours a day. Daz is in a wheelchair, and he has moved in to Shaun's house - the same one Shaun grew up in. Shaun works nights at the local petrol station, but Daz is his fulltime occupation. Daz's teenage son, Daniel, lives with them.

All Shaun has is his imagination. In quiet times he escapes to his bedroom and lets his mind wander. He thinks back to primary school, where things first started to go wrong. To a spelling test. He can't write a single word, fingers tense, brain unyielding. Another kid calls him a spastic. Outside, afterwards, venting his frustration, Shaun beats the kid so badly that he fractures his skull. The headmaster says Shaun's unteachable, can't be helped - he is expelled.

Adult Shaun accompanies Daz to the hospital. Daz has been feeling sick. The cirrhosis is very advanced, the doctor tells them, there's kidney damage, he's not managing his diabetes... He has eight weeks to live. Shaun says get a liver transplant. Daz doesn't want a transplant. 'Fancy a drink then?' Daz says.

Faced with the idea of life without Daz, Shaun can't stop thinking about the past, to a sunlit summer now when he was 16, carefree, riding Daz's motorbike through the woods, swimming in the lake with his girlfriend Katy. Katy is smart, helps Shaun with his coursework, looks after him. Daz is there too, as ever, with a girl of his own. Even when they're chased away from the lake by a gamekeeper with a gun, Shaun is as happy as he'll ever be.

But Shaun still can't write. Riven with self-loathing, his exam paper a mess, he storms out of the exam room straight down to woodwork, puts his hand in a vice and crushes it - that's the problem, that's how he deals with it.

Suspended from school, Shaun and Daz have nothing to do and they gravitate back to the school grounds. Messing about in the school one weekend, they set fire to the school hall. The police corner them on their bike as they bolt. Shaun jumps off and runs, leaving Daz on his own. Daz burns off, hits a police car, and is paralysed for life.

As Daz's state gets worse in the present day Shaun decides to track down Katy. She's a solicitor in Sheffield. At first he can't bring himself to talk to her, and then she refuses to see him. Finally she comes to visit him herself. Although it's great to see him, Katy is troubled by the intensity of their conversation and leaves.

Daz dies. Shaun packs up Daz's things and heads down to the lake to tell Daz's son Daniel, who's drinking with his mates, just like Shaun used to. Daniel's first reaction is he wants none of it - Dad was a pisshead, a waster. It doesn't matter.

But at the funeral, Daniel is there, and so is Katy - she comes to sit with Shaun. Afterwards, they head down the lake, like they did during that one blissful summer. Shaun tells Katy that he's missed her. That back then was the best summer he ever had. He scatters Daz's ashes in the lake.

And then the gamekeeper comes again, and they all hotfoot it across the fields. For Shaun and Katy it's like 20 years ago. Katy drops Shaun home and wants to know what his future holds. Shaun looks at Daniel. He'll look after him. Katy and Shaun embrace and say goodbye.

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