Learning to Fly Again

"Learning to Fly Again" is a heartfelt exploration of identity and belonging, centering on characters who are navigating life's complexities and searching for where they truly fit. A year after the death of her husband, JOAN, a former commercial airline pilot, finds herself grounded and unable to fly. Along with crippling anxiety, she's struggling with the bills that keep piling up while she's out of work. Yearning for comfort and familiarity (and free rent via her mom), she moves back to her small hometown in Utah. However, nothing seems to be as she remembers it, and what once sounded comforting is causing her more anguish. On top of it, her pre-teen daughter KAMIKO feels like a stranger to her. Having been gone most of the year working, Joan finds herself unable to connect and shut out. Kamiko is also struggling with her mental health, and Joan feels helpless as she watches Kamiko's grief spiral into depression. When Kamiko begins connecting with Joan's mom LINDA, Joan grits her teeth and grins as she silently falls apart inside. Linda is experiencing a silver-haired renaissance and learning how to express herself and her long repressed sexuality. Kamiko admires this and is drawn to Linda, which only intensifies Joan's loneliness. But Joan, still trapped in her need to be the together and confident captain she was once seen as, smothers her feelings and smiles as if everything is just peachy. GREG, a Pakistani American, is the only person who knows how lost Joan actually is. He owns the local garden store, which becomes Joan's place of employment as well as her sanctuary. Greg understands what it means to be 40 and experiencing an existential crisis. Having been adopted by white Mormon parents when he was a toddler, he's beginning to wonder about his heritage and where he really belongs. He knows he no longer wants to be in the Church, but he fears what will happen if he leaves. As Joan begins to explore meditation through her free-spirited friend KENDRA, she finds her anxiety going down. But the pain of feeling unwanted and useless to her own daughter continues to build. When Joan finds herself once again left out, she has a drunken meltdown and ends up sleeping on Greg's couch. Feeling she's made everything so much worse, Joan is shocked when Kamiko gives her a moment of true connection. It wasn't the perfect, emotionless captain Kamiko wanted – it was the real person, who was experiencing difficult emotions, and able to show their vulnerability, that Kamiko wanted. Although the garden store gave Joan a place to calm and center herself, she knows it's not her destiny. With her anxiety in check and her sense of self restored, she returns to the tarmac. Before she can change her mind, she's taxiing down the runway, ready for takeoff. And as she flies over the stunning Utah desert, she's filled with pride and joy to be flying again.