When Ethan Cole, a scrawny, quiet insecure teenager on the brink of manhood, raised by his single mother and sister, and then abandoned by both of them is faced with the news that his sister Dana may be in trouble, or dead, he must leave his desert seclusion and comfort zone, and enter the unknown.

He heads to Huntington Beach to look for clues to Dana's possible whereabouts and fate. Ethan overcomes his deep seated fears and insecurities to infiltrate the drug scene and gang called The Brotherhood led by Mitch Adams. He has found social acceptance and feels he is very close to discovering Dana's fate when he succumbs to the increasing pressure and becomes intimately involved in the very evil he was trying to fight.

Having hit bottom Ethan is faced with his failure, resolves to right his wrongs, and when he realizes he has nothing to lose, he puts his life on the line to save his girlfriend from the same fate as Dana and finds himself the main catalyst in the downfall of the biggest drug ring in California.

First things first, where are we?

We are in the good old US of A, Stars and Stripes, the Pledge of Allegience, God bless America and all that.

When are we?

Our story is set in the mid to late 70's, but the set-up in a larger context began at least two decades before this.

We are likey in the administration of Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter depending on what specific dates we decide to set our story in. In any case we are certainly post Nixon.

What's going on?

Lets start with the political - social context of the 60's and 70's.

We all know that the 1960's ushered in an age of drug frenzied, punk music fuelled social rebellion against conservative America, it's government, it's military agenda, it's corporations and it's power over the hearts, minds and souls of it's citizens.

Who's our protagonist?

Meet Ethan Cole, about 20 years old. He's from Las Vegas, or rather the desert surrounding Las Vegas. His childhood comprises living in the back of a stationwagon with his mother (Katherine) and sister (Dana), being dragged from house to house while his mother tries her luck as an estate agent.

His mother has known many men, and Ethan has never known his father. Ethan and his sister Dana were left by thier mother with thier uncle Al about two years before our story begins. They have never seen thier mother since. Uncle Al owns a gas station and truck stop on the Interstate 15.

This is all back-story. A year after Katherine left them with thier uncle and ran off with a pimp from Vegas, Ethan's sister Dana ran away, we find out later in the story that Al tried to rape her. Ethan is left on his own for most of a year before we meet him and arrive at our INCITING INCIDENT.

Who's our antagonist(s)?

Now I will introduce Mitch Adams, he's in his early 30's, a surfer and a high level dealer in Marajuana and LSD for a group we never name based on "The Brotherhood of Eternal Love", please also read the story of Mike Hynson. *Links coming!

If you manage to read the above documents, you'll have a pretty good picture of what's going on and the trouble Ethan Cole is going to get himself into.

Mitch Adam's is responsible for the murder of Dana Cole. Mitch invents a complex trail of false clues and mis-information, weaving a web of lies to cover his paths.

What Mitch doesn't count on is the appearance on the scene of Dana's brother Ethan, and that Ethan is destined to connect with the only man who can bring him down.

The Inciting Incident

A surfer kid from Huntington Beach drives out into the desert to find Ethan Cole, he knew Dana. She was in Huntington Beach and he hasn't seen her around for some time. He knows she went on a trip to Mexico with some notirious surfers in town and never returned. He wanted to make sure her family were aware and remembered Dana mentioning a brother who lived at a truck stop on the Interstate outside of Vegas.

The kid leaves Ethan with a crumpled note on which the names of the guys she was last seen with are written, of course these guys are all members of "The Brotherhood".

The Hero's Journey

This Huntington Beach network of dealers, suppliers and producers of various contraban and their activities form the main external source of antagonism acting on Ethan Cole. However, there is far more at work on the inside.

Ethan can't just ignore the fact that his sister may be in trouble, or worse, dead. However he is scared stiff, totally insecure and has no self-esteem or self-confidence. He's been rejected by everyone important in his life, you can imagine where this leaves him emotionally. He's a nervous wreck but has to go... he's the only family Dana has.

The roller coaster ride begins.

An irreversible chain of events are set in motion that ensures Ethan grows up, matures, finds friendship, love, and wins the recognition and respect of his peers. He becomes somebody, but in the end it costs him his soul, his love, and his search for his sister.

Instead he finds himself, his inner demons, a corrupt and fallen man, and after a sordid summer of drugs, sex and rock 'n roll, he finds out his sister is dead (there's a great sub-plot in there, but I won't expand on it now).

Ethan discovers his love interest is destined for the same fate as his sister Dana, and he has to do something about it, but it could cost him his life.

Redemption comes in the form of the return of a close friend. A friendship kindled early after his arrival in Huntington with a man who turns out to be the key in the undoing of "The Brotherhood" bringing justice to Mitch Adams, and the salvation of Ethan in a dramatic climax.

This is a man who tried from the day Ethan arrived to dissuade him from pursuing his goal, who knew exactly what would unfold, but could not reveal this to Ethan or how he knew (another awesome sub plot involving his sister's death).

This friend returns and sacrifices himself for Ethan despite Ethans earlier total rejection and humiliation of this friend, and nearly causing his death after a bloody run-in with The Brotherhood.

Hopefully this gives you some idea where this story is going. If not, ask questions! If anything doesn't gel, or doesn't work for you as you follow the actual development of the screenplay, scene by scene, beat by beat, please let me know!