Brian Barnes

After spending months of planning and building up her courage Kadija is ready to walk out of her abusive marriage. Her mother, Sophie, on the other side of the country, prayed this day would come, terrified it wouldn’t as her only daughter’s marriage became a reflection of her own. The one detail Kadija’s plans didn’t anticipate? A chance encounter with Malcolm at the Llanerch Diner the morning of her escape. What begins as a spur of the moment escape becomes a journey of discovery, renewal, and the start of a lifelong friendship between two unlikely friends.

Washed up and fading pop star Noah James is forced to accept the only offer on the table : Return home to small town North Carolina to direct a musical for the local community theater’s centennial season. Will he rekindle the passion of what led to his earlier success or will he find himself surprised by second chances when he reconnects with his first love, his school sweetheart?

In 1993, Abel Cunningham leaves behind his family and the only home he’s ever known, determined to reconcile his sexuality with the religion he grew up with as a minister’s kid in the foothills of North Carolina. Along the way he encounters heartbreak, the looming specter of AIDS, and, to his greatest surprise, love. With a new sense of purpose will Abel be able to reconnect and forge new bonds or will his return only further break apart his family?