Seeking love through a series of doomed pets, a haunted loner ignores the lore of her local bridge until a freak accident seals another fate.
In the idyllic town of Morsnest Hollow, the Silk family is a local legend, haunted by a 1950s tragedy: a mother, believed cursed, threw herself and her infant son into the river. Decades later, the surviving twin, Miriam, has died, leaving her children—Herman and Neta—to settle an estate tied to the CRYBABY BRIDGE folklore.
Neta lives in isolation, cycling through pets—turtles, hamsters, a rabbit—each lost to grisly, accidental deaths that reinforce her expectation of loss. Her life repeats a pattern of unlove, marked by a single turquoise earring, a relic from the night Miriam discarded its pair into the river to spite her. Meanwhile, Herman returns with his fiancée Tiffany and his children. He has a severe egg allergy and resents the family’s supernatural reputation.
Neta seeks solace in a tentative relationship with Paul, the local pet store owner. But Paul is secretly the Director of the Historical Society, obsessed with the Silk curse, a fact he withholds while manipulating the siblings.
Herman’s world shatters when he learns the 1950s tragedy was an accidental maternal overlay. Miriam weaponized the story of the curse to abuse them, crushing Neta’s spirit. Herman’s rage peaks when he discovers Paul has stolen a silver hairbrush, an instrument of Neta's torment, for a museum display. He violently attacks Paul, is arrested, and shatters the facade of the perfect man for Tiffany.
Meanwhile, patriarch Stephen spirals into dementia, grieving Miriam’s death. He persuades Tiffany to fulfill Miriam’s last wish: to be thrown over CRYBABY BRIDGE, illegally. She steals Miriam’s body from the morgue, delivering it to Stephen’s kiln for a DIY cremation. Recognizing Herman’s love is performative only, she leaves him and breaks free of the Silk cycle.
The finale erupts at the bridge. Neta finally tells her story, freeing herself from abuse, and witnesses Paul fall to his death, believing he hears ghostly cries. Herman attempts a heroic rescue but fails, the lifelong pressure to be perfect snapping as he collapses into a wail—the very sound haunting the bridge for seventy years.
Neta finds gentle peace by adopting Paul’s cat and leaves a message of love for her brother, unaware he lies ruined on the riverbank. While the family struggles to move on, the town remains swarmed by thousands, forever hungry for the Silk tragedy.
British-Canadian writer/director Claire Leona Apps, raised in Hong Kong and educated at the London Film School, is known for her dark, cross-cultural stories. Her debut feature, And Then I Was French (2018), a psychological thriller likened to the work of Andrea Arnold, marked her arrival as a bold new voice. Her films, including Girl Blue Running Shoe, Gweipo, Ruminate, and Ages of Man, have screened on the BBC and at festivals such as St. Louis, Cork, East End and Florida. A BAFTA talent, she has worked with acclaimed actors including Francesca Annis and Rebecca Hall. Her scripts have been Film Fatales Fellowship finalists and earned a scholarship to Stowe Story Labs. Claire’s Audible Original fiction podcast Aqua Tofana, a fairy tale-infused family crime drama, launches in 2026. Her short stories have appeared in Permafrost and For Page & Screen. She also runs the Soho House Women Writers’ Salon.
Martina Silcock - Producer
