“Buying Time” – Synopsis

Screenplay by

Steve Meretzky (steve@boffo.us)

and Bob Bates (bobbates@bobbates.com)

In the grim world of 2041, Ezra Cane is a police detective for the Age Transfer Crimes Unit. Along with his longtime partner, Trip Munsen, he investigates abuses of the technology known as Age Transfer (AT) which allows a donor to transfer years of lifespan to a willing buyer.

These abuses are horrifying. Homeless people are snatched and drained of their remaining years, their lifeless bodies dumped in dark alleys and vacant lots. Babies and small children are easy targets for kidnappers who want to steal their lifespans. Junkies sell year after year to support their addictions, growing old before their time.

When Sienna Edison, the wife of a powerful Senator, is kidnapped, aged, and murdered, the crime electrifies the bitter and cynical Ezra as evidence mounts linking it with a similar tragedy of 17 years ago – a crime in which the victim was his wife and soulmate, Dominique.

Left alone to raise their infant daughter Amity, Ezra has his hands full. Amity, now at the peak of teen rebelliousness, balks at Ezra’s protective ways and chafes at the cramped living quarters which they share with ancient and completely batty Grandma Nicky. Ezra knows she needs more, but doesn’t know how to provide it.

As Ezra investigates Sienna’s murder, he uncovers a web of AT-related corruption that reaches the highest levels of the country’s financial and government elite. While racing to expose her murderer before these forces swat him like a fly, he also solves the crime that has obsessed him for 17 years. In an ending filled with surprise twists and unspeakable horrors, Ezra discovers the one force in this world stronger than wealth and power – love.