Trama

A New Orleans socialite wrestles with her past.

A woman, Annie, marries a rich doctor. Fourteen years after an incident at a parade in the French Quarter, Annie discovers that her husband Joe isn't who she thought - and that something terrible happened to her son George that she has avoided confronting. But the past won't let some people avoid what happened.—Gislef

In New Orleans, the lower-class Annie Keller is married with the wealthy Dr. Joe Keller. They are walking in the street carnival in the French Quarter with her son George and, out of the blue, Joe and George disappear. When they return, the scared George is mute and hurt, and he tells that a monster wanted to eat him. Fourteen years later, Annie and Joe are a prominent couple in the New Orleans's high society and Joe has a party to celebrate the award he has just been indicated to receive. Out of the blue, a man crashes the party and accuses Joe of abusing his sister. This is only the beginning of a scandal on the career of Dr. Joe Keller and soon Annie is forced to remember her past.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In New Orleans, a Mardi Gras parade heads down the street of the French Quarter in daylight. The spectators applaud, and afterward Annie Keller, her husband, Joe, and their son George head back home. George runs off when Joe puts her down, and Annie chases after her calling her name. George finally stops and Annie tells her to stay with them.

Later, the family stops at a street side café for a meal. George says that the sugar won't hurt her and insists that she's not sick. Joe tells George, jokingly checks her, and tells Annie that George is a healthy kid. They continue on, and Annie's associate Nancy Breaux hails Annie and asks how the move to New Orleans was, and Joe continues on with George on his shoulder. Nancy says that when Joe came back to New Haven with Annie and George, no one there even knew he was seeing anyone.

After breaking away from Nancy, Annie goes looking for Joe and Annie but can't find them in the crowd. She finally finds George running past and hugs her, and discovers that George is staring off into space, shocked and with his wrist sprained. Annie takes George to a children's hospital, and Joe rushes in and says that George ran off in the crowd and has been looking for her everywhere. Annie abruptly tells the attending doctor that Joe is the stepfather, and Annie confirms that George hasn't said a word since she found their son.

When Annie coaxes George to talk, the boy says that a monster was chasing him. All George says is that the monster had black eyes, and it tried to eat her. Joe checks George's sprained wrist and wraps it up for her. Outside, Annie worries about George, and Joe says that they'll get their son fixed up first. They drive off, and behind them in the street festival a Trumpeter plays his trumpet and watches Annie go... his eyes solid black.

14 Years Later

At night, Annie looks out the window holding a baseball bat. A SUV pulls up in front of the house. She goes to the front door and waits inside, and Joe comes in. As he apologizes for running late, Annie hushes him and says that someone is there and she heard a voice out back. Joe goes with her to the back patio, and they see a shadow move across the curtains. Joe takes the bat and tells Annie to get his phone, and he calls out "Who's there!" after opening the back patio door.

People are waiting and yell "Surprise!", and Annie takes off her jacket revealing she's wearing a party dress. She kisses her husband and complains that she's been at the window waiting for him while he was late, and Joe greets his guests while the band strikes up a number.

Annie talks with Nancy about her husband, Stewie, and Nancy points out a waitress from a fish place she and Stewie frequent. The waitress' nametag says "Jennifer", but Nancy overheard the manager call her "Toni". Nancy calls Jennifer over, and explains that Jennifer moved to New Orleans to become a dental hygienist.

Nancy sarcastically talks about how when she first met Annie, Annie didn't have a house or a husband, and now Annie has it all. She then tells Annie that she's come a long way and she's an inspiration, and tells Annie to tell Jennifer. Annie tells Jennifer that her father was a drunk and shoved his wife through a glass door, and Annie left home when she was 15. The woman then excuses herself to check the kitchen.

The now-teenaged George arrives in the kitchen, and the cook Marta greets him. They hug, and Marta asks George why he had to move to California to go to school and asks if he's got a girlfriend yet. He jokingly says that he has five or six.

A girl, Julia White, gets up and tells the guests that thanks to Joe and her mother, Julie, she got a new heart at the hospital where he works and a new lease on life thanks to her father, Joe. She thanks Joe for all that he does for children like her, and congratulates him on recently getting an award for medical research. Everyone applauds and Joe gets up to hug Julia.

Julia's brother Frank takes the mic and tells Joe that they've never met before. He asks Joe if he remembers Julie, and Joe admits that he doesn't. Annie gets up and interrupts, telling Frank that he should leave since he's not a guest. Two of the wait staff escort Frank out, and another guest gets up and starts to speak. Frank comes back and punches Joe in the eye, and the staff grab Frank and take him out. George stares at his stepfather as Annie tells the band to play another number.

Joe goes to the kitchen and has Marta gets him some ice for his eye. Annie comes in and says that the guests need to see that Joe is all right for themselves. As the couple go out and mingle, George comes down from upstairs and Annie sees him. She asks where he's off to, and George says that he's going to a friend, Kelly. Before the teenager can answer, Joe comes over and jokingly quizzes George on medicine that he's studying, He tells George to come by for breakfast before he goes back to California, and George says that he will and leaves.

Once the guests leave, Annie talks to Joe in his office and asks about Julie. He says that she was a registered at the hospital 14 years ago, and that she thought they were in love. Annie is upset that Joe never told her about Julie, and figures that Joe felt something about Julie. When the board found out, they fired Julie. Joe admits that he's not proud, and Annie says that some men have gone down for less than that.

Joe figures that Annie is shocked and admits that he had an affair. Annie says that she is upset and Joe should have told her at the time. He tells her that they were still developing their relationship, and George was having nightmares about the monster. Joe points that Annie that was close to losing her mind, and Annie tells him to get to bed so he'll look sharp for the award he's getting the next day in NYC. Joe wonders if that's it about his affair, and Annie asks if it is. He says that it is for him, and Annie tells him that he did the best he could at the time. She informs her husband that it was a good party and leaves.

Annie goes to bed, and hears trumpet music outside through her window. She goes to the window and looks out, but doesn't see the trumpeter. Annie closes the window and goes back to bed.

The next morning, Annie wakes up when she hears the kitchen staff. She calls George as she packs for New York, and says that she got him a seat on the plane. Annie leaves a voice message and when a call comes in, she takes it and discovers that it's Nancy. Nancy tells Annie to turn on her TV to the news, just as the doorbell rings.

Annie goes downstairs and finds Joe's attorney, Kate, with Joe. Kate says that Julie uploaded a video onto her twitter account the night before, and the contents of the video were "sensitive" in nature. She rep explains that Julie was 19 when she and Joe had their affair, and several other women saw it and filed complaints. One of them is outside the statute of limitations, and the award board found out and revoked the award, and Annie is offended. She asks if Joe will lose his license, and Kate warns that the accusations are usually spot-on. Kate tells the couple that they can fight the accusations.

Joe tells Annie that she said the previous night that they're partners. He breaks into tears, and Annie hugs him and says that she believes him, and they'll fight it. He tells his wife that he needs help, and Annie pulls away from him in shock as Joe says that he's sick and a bad man.

Reporters gather outside the Keller estate and talk about how Joe has been accuses of sexually assaulting of Julie White, and how 40 other women have come forward making similar accusations. Annie watches Julie on the news, talking about how Joe destroyed her life, and Annie ignores the ringing phone. Julie says that everything in her life has been affected by the "event".

Annie goes through her old photos between her and Joe at the festival. She calls Nancy and asks if she had any idea about Joe, and Joe pulled Annie and George out of a bad situation-money wise 14 years ago. Annie asks Nancy about how she said she was "different" at the festival 14 years ago, and asks what Nancy meant, and wonders how she missed what Joe was really like.

Calling George, Annie gets his voice mail and leaves a message asking him to call her back. As she dozes off, waiting for George to call her back, Annie hears the trumpet again out her open window and wakes up. She goes downstairs and finds the front door open, and closes it. A window in the kitchen breaks, and Annie turns around in shock. She goes to investigate, and discovers that someone has thrown in a rock with the word "rapist" written on it. Looking out the window, Annie sees the Trumpeter playing and leaning on a tree.

Annie goes out and over, and Annie asks him if he threw the rock. He approaches her without answering, then snarls at her and reveals his solid-black eyes. The Trumpeter's teeth are fangs, and Annie slaps him when he grabs her hair. He collapses, apparently dead, and Annie drags his body to her house and dumps the body in a backyard shed.

Back in the house, Annie collects the shard of glass from the broken windows. Julie's words of accusation play on a recording on the TV, and Annie goes back to the TV, throws away her bathrobe with any pieces of broken glass, and turns off the TV. She goes back to bed, can't sleep, and calls George and gets his voicemail. Annie breaks into tears and says that something terrible has happened.

Back in her room, Annie looks at the photos of when she first met Joe. There are photos of George as a young boy there as well.

Waking up from sleeping, Annie hears a door open and goes downstairs to investigate. She looks outside at the shed, and sees the door swinging in the breeze. Annie grabs an ice pick from a kitchen drawer as a weapon, and goes to the shed. The Trumpeter grabs her from behind and tries to bite her neck, and she twists around and stabs him in the side.

Running inside, Annie goes into the kitchen. Window shatter as blasts of trumpet break them, and Annie runs upstairs as the blasts of sound assault her. She runs to the basement to escape the sound, and the sound stops. Annie hears footsteps above, and the basement door opens. George steps into the light and calls to Annie, and she runs to her son in relief and hugs him

The next morning, George pours coffee and tells Annie that he got his messages. She asks if he remembers when he was a child, and hears someone moving in the house. Annie tells George that someone was there the night before and broke the window, and says that it was the monster George saw when he was a boy. She reminds him of how he was scared of the monster, and they took him to a psychiatrist. George dismisses it as a kid's stuff.

Annie figures that he blocked it out, and George insists that he didn't forget anything out. He asks about her message that she said something terrible, and Annie says that she's very sorry that she didn't and couldn't believe George when he was a child. Annie explains that the truth and the weight of it was too big, and says that the monster was real.

George wonders if Annie is drunk or on drugs, but she shows him the broken windows and insists that it's proof of the Trumpeters. George tells her to sit down and give him a minute, then says that he wants to talk about what happened at the parade.

The teenager hesitates, and asks if Annie wants to say something. She doesn't, and George asks if she's going to make him do it. He says that Joe hurt him as well at the parade, and that he and Annie need to talk about it. George's wrist was hurt when he got away, and he lied about the "monster" and it was really Joe. Annie talks about the monster, and George figures that she's avoiding the truth.

Annie runs up to her room, and George goes after her and says that they need to talk. He tells her that he wanted ice cream, and when Joe took him off he took George to a stall and molested him. Annie insists that it never happened, but George says that he tried to tell her when he ran off and she found him. She doesn't believe it and insists that it didn't happen, and says that they had nothing. Annie tells George that they have everything, including college. George says that he's flunking every class, and he can't get over what happened. He tells Annie that he needs her to say that she knew, and Annie says that she didn't remember.

George asks Annie if she's ashamed or guilty, and Joe married Annie because he knew she was impoverished and would keep her mouth shut. The teenager accuses Annie of being "paid off" by Joe with the house and clothes, and talks about how he used to pray that Joe wouldn't come to his room in the middle of the night. George tells Annie that he's "drowning", and Annie remembers George telling her what happened 14 years ago.

Shocked, Annie goes to her bathroom and scrubs her hands. She comes out and finds George waiting for her, and he tells her that he's giving it one last shot. When Annie wonders for what. George walks out of the house without a word. Annie runs after her son, yelling his name, but a blast of the trumpet sound knocks her down. Overwhelmed by the sound, Annie crawls back to the kitchen and grabs the pick. She drives it into her right ear to stop the noise, and does the same to her other ear. Annie screams in pain, but can't hear herself or anything.

As Annie staggers out to the foyer, she hears the trumpet despite her deafness. The Trumpeter is out in the yard, playing. Realizing that she can't escape the sound, Annie turns to the Trumpeter, smiles, and goes to the French Quarter as the Trumpeter leads her. As night falls, the Trumpeter stops playing and the parade comes out behind him. All the participants have black eyes, and they all surround Annie.