Film Adaptation
A Moving, Beautiful, and Unique Story.
Lights on the Sea has a totally unique and innovative approach, in which the audience, like its main two characters, is pulled from the cliff and embarks on a journey of adventure and redemption aboard a house that miraculously floats adrift.
Like the ocean itself, Lights on the Sea is wild and beautiful at the same time. This is a story that immerses us in the depths of our emotions, with characters marked by a tragedy in which all audiences can identify and engage.
More than a story, Lights on the Sea is an extremely moving experience that leaves the audience with the sweet taste of having lived an intense, exciting, and emotional journey that they will never forget.
“I have been left speechless by this book. It surprised me in so many ways that I don't know how to put it into words.”
— Robin Ben Chan
"Wildly imaginative, deeply poignant, and entirely unexpected, Lights on the Sea sweeps the audience away on a journey of fate, acceptance, redemption, and survival against the most rewarding of odds.”
Story Structure:
ACT I: The Fall
On the highest point of an island, in a house clinging to the edge of a cliff, live Mary Rose and Harold Grapes, a couple still mourning the death of their son thirty-five years earlier. Weighed down by decades of grief and memories, the Grapes have never moved past the tragedy. Then, on the eve of eviction from the most beautiful and dangerously unstable perch in the area, they’re uprooted by a violent storm. The disbelieving Grapes and their home take a free-fall slide into the white-capped sea and float away.
ACT II: The Encounter
Upon awakening, they are shocked to find themselves adrift in the middle of the ocean.
With no way to navigate, and water leaking in from every side, the house is anything but seaworthy. Harold and Mary Rose find themselves in a life-or-death race against time, battling not only to survive the brutal elements but the unbridled ghosts from their past, as well. Their floating house drifts into icy waters, and it is not long before Harold and Mary Rose find they are trapped between huge blocks of ice. Starving and on the verge of freezing to death, they set off on foot across the snow-covered frozen terrain, hoping the smoke marks a human presence. In short, they’re exhausted and caught in a snowstorm. By sheer luck, an Inuit girl named Kirima stumbles upon the couple and escorts them to the safety of her tribe’s camp.
Over time, Harold and Mary Rose recover from their ordeal and are accepted into the Inuit community. Naturally, they have a special connection with young Kirima, who in a sense fills the void left so long ago by the death of their own child. Kirima’s father tells Harold and Mary Rose that with the coming spring thaw, a passage will open that will allow them to return to their people and their old life. The couple prepares for the journey, but it’s a half-hearted effort.
CLIMAX: The Catharsis
Tragedy strikes once more when Kirima drowns in an ice fishing accident. Old wounds are opened, but Harold and Kirima learn an important lesson when they observe how Kirima’s parents deal with their grief. Harold and Mary Rose finally come to grips with the loss of their own child, fall in love again, and start a new life. Although a way home becomes available to them, they choose instead to set sail in their boat-home.
ACT III: The Dream of a Lifetime
They lived their dream, sailing the high seas in their boat-home, knowing that Dylan was with them in spirit.
Dramatic Questions.
On the surface, the central dramatic question posted in Lights on the Sea is:
Will Harold and Mary Rose Grapes survive after their house, once a boat, falls into the sea?
But there’s also a less visible and deeper thematic question posed as well…
Will Harold and Mary Rose Grapes get to overcome the loss of their son and once more have a reason for living?
A Universal & Inspirational Theme
Lights on the Sea has been translated into 5 languages. The story resonates with the same strength across all cultures and regions of the world given it has a universal and inspirational theme that everybody can relate to:
It's possible to move past a tragedy and once more have a reason for living one’s dreams.
The Most Popular Highlighted Quotes from readers
“A home is built from our experiences, from the people we meet along the way, and, more than anything, from how we decide to journey through life.”
“The past can be a heavy burden,” Aga said. “How do you lighten it?” Mary Rose asked, turning to Aga, her eyes shimmering with tears. “You can’t,” Aga answered firmly. “But we can become stronger, so the weight doesn’t hold us back on our journey.”
“Life is a constant journey. We move from one place to another. The journey is what makes a fish different than a rock, movement different from stillness, light from darkness, life from death.”
“Bitterness and blame only imprison us and prevent us from moving forward.”
Adventure, Action, Drama & Fantasy.
Lights on the Sea’s genre is a mix of adventure, action, and drama with a fantasy component (magical realism). It’s a story that keeps us glued to our seats with a fast-paced plot, full of action and dangers in a house that is not designed for an environment as wild as the ocean and characters that are not prepared to survive adrift with hardly any provisions.
It’s also a tremendously human and realistic story, incorporating a strong dramatic and tragic component, and featuring characters with universal problems with whom audiences will empathize, laugh and cry. It is also a magical story – a light in the dark that makes us dream, through a house that drifts on the ocean, and inspires through the great metaphor it represents.
Audience.
Lights on the Sea is an intense, emotional story of survival and triumph that sweeps the audience away on a journey of fate, acceptance, redemption, and survival against the most rewarding of odds.
It's a story that connects and inspires the audience at two very deep levels. On the one hand, it's an immersive story, full of spectacular action, adventure, and imaginative sequences that will entertain and amaze the audience. On the other hand, it's also a story that connects on a deeply emotional level; Lights on the Sea is a moving story with universal themes such as love, friendship, loss, and the idea that it is never too late to fulfill your dreams. Themes that all resonate and engage with the same strength with audiences of different ages, and countries.
It's also a story that has already been tested with thousands of readers all over the world who have read the book and are expecting to see this incredible journey on the silver screen.
What People Are Saying
“Lights on the Sea is a breath of fresh air. It’s extraordinarily stimulating in a way that is moving, but entirely human, while being completely fantastic in its literal content.”
— Svetlana Pucillo
“Lights on the Sea makes the truly fantastic seem everyday credible.”
— Gary Moreau, Author
More than an Adventure.
Lights on the Sea is also a character-driven story. The heavy lifting of the story falls on the performance of the two main characters, Harold and Mary Rose Grapes.
These are two very demanding roles with a dramatic past and deep cathartic arcs.
They move from being stuck in the loss of their son and estranged, to being fully alive again and in love. The adventure, culminating in what they learn from Kirima and her family, drives their arcs.
It’s never too late to move past a tragedy and once more have a reason for living one’s dreams.
What People Are Saying
“It has it all. Lights on the Sea not only entertains you with a fast-paced, action-packed storyline, it's also a poignantly human story, dramatic and ravishingly beautiful.”
— Ivy
“Through all of the adventures that these two characters encountered, I was with them. I adored Mary Rose and Harold and I felt like I was right beside them the entire voyage.”
— Doris Laura
“What a journey! My heart aches for Mary and Harold. My heart soars with their discovery of life and each other. Please gift yourself with this tale of love, loss and rebirth.”
— Alice Murphy
“His character development was first class, as was his ability to elicit empathy for his characters. It is a story of resurrection.”
— Rick O.