Jim Macfarlane

When a family gathers to celebrate Christmas in a New Zealand coastal town, it doesn’t take long for the cracks in the family facade to show. The unexpected return from London of the eldest daughter Ngaire, sets events in motion that force two sisters to confront their past. As family secrets are revealed, a seven year old child almost loses the security of the life she has always known.

Writer/director Paul Maunder's second drama after his award-winning Going Up North for a While is a portrait of a woman's mental health crisis. In part one Julie (Denise Maunder) is haunted by her birth mother's breakdown. Her inner monologue narrates events; Julie hopes marriage and a job will "cure" her, and falls pregnant. After a traumatic delivery, she suffers an acute episode and is admitted into care. Part two takes place in a psychiatric hospital where drugs, electroconvulsive therapy and art therapy were standard treatments at the time. Maunder undertook research at Auckland's Kingseat psychiatric hospital.