​Short Synopsis:

In a remote village on the Chesapeake Bay, where a traditional way of life still follows the cycle of the seasons, a young widow lives alone. One spring night, a thunderstorm wakes her, and she believes her husband has returned.

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Long Synopsis:

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It is a Spring day in an isolated waterman's village. Anna Marie lives alone. She is taking her sheets down from the line when her father arrives. He asks her to come back home for a while. She tells him she's OK and not to worry.

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Later she makes her bed with the clean sheets. She then lies down, turns on her side, and reaches her hand out to the empty place beside her.

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That evening, she eats her dinner alone, and then goes for a walk. She walks down a lonely road and out to the end of a pier that looks out to sea. ​

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When she returns, she prepares a bath, puts her hair up, and gets into the tub. As she sits in the bath, she thinks back to the night of the storm when her husband did not return. She plunges her head under the water to escape the memory, but when she can hold her breath no longer, she comes up gasping for air.

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Letting her hair dry, she sits on a couch and paints her nails.

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Before going to bed, she combs her hair in front of a mirror. She stops and gazes at a picture of her wedding day, then gets into bed and turns out the light.

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A flash and clap of lighting and thunder wakes her. She turns on the light and sees her husband standing at the end of the bed. She is frightened and confused, but he comes and sits beside her. Slowly she reaches out and touches him. Little by little she believes in him. He comes into bed with her, and they make love.

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When their lovemaking is complete, she holds him for a long time and then asks him if he will stay. He says, "Only 'til you wake." After a long pause, she turns away.

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When she wakes in the morning, she is alone. She hears the thunder in the distance, goes to the window, and sees the storm passing away over the bay.

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