8.13.61

In the Summer of 1961, the Berlin government devised a plan to separate the country, the West, from the East. They enacted eighty-seven miles of barriers, dividing the West from the East. Imelda James is a combat photojournalist who works as a photographer for the Los Angeles Times. She raises her teen son Jake James alone and is sent on a weekend assignment to Berlin, Germany, to meet with a source about rumors of a wall being built. Imelda takes Jake along and meets up with her sources, Marcella and Jurgen. They have a run-in with a Stasi Officer who complicates things. While his mother is working Jake hangs out with Farina, the hotel counter girl, and her friends. Saturday night, when the barriers unknowingly are to go up, they go to a club in East Berlin. After midnight, the Berlin government puts up over eighty miles of barriers separating and closing borders from east to west. Jake and the young ladies are trapped on the wrong side of the barrier. Imelda and Marcella get deeply involved. They investigate the border closing situation, witness a murder, rescue Jake and Farina, and are shot at. They are hunted down by the Stasi, whom they had an earlier run-in with, and his men. Imelda, Marcella, Jake, and Farina navigate through the streets of East Berlin while hiding from the Stasi police, and go through a series of attempted escapes, trying to cross back to the West side. Jake crosses the Spree River evading capture. Imelda, Farina, and Jurgen attempt a high stakes crossing at the border in Jurgen’s car. Through a series of events, Imelda and Jake are finally reunited at the US Embassy. They get back home, relax, and are visited by Marcella for an assignment.