- A mother living with mental illness struggles to cope after losing custody of her two daughters.
- AN AUDIENCE OF CHAIRS Maura Mackenzie (Carolina Bartczak) believes the world is hers to conquer. With her career as a concert pianist gaining momentum, it seems her beauty and talent will be strong enough to mask the demons that threaten to engulf her. But with an absent husband (Chris Jacot) and two young daughters at home, her precarious sanity begins to unravel until one summer day, burning with manic energy, she makes a terrible mistake - a mistake that will change her life forever. The consequences for Maura are catastrophic: her ambitious husband runs for his life, taking the children with him, leaving Maura to lapse into a full-scale breakdown. Life as she knew it is now over. With the help of her father, Ian (Peter MacNeill), Maura works to reclaim her life and waits for a miracle to bring her daughters home. But when the fates align, can the past be forgiven? Directed by award-winning filmmaker Deanne Foley (Relative Happiness), this universal story of the redemptive power of a mother's love is adapted from the popular, award-winning novel, "An Audience of Chairs" by Joan Clark.
- Set in 1997 in Tors Cove, Newfoundland, Maura Mackenzie and her two daughters, Bonnie and Brianna Fraser, arrive at their summer home for a two-week vacation. Maura's husband, and the girls' father, Duncan Fraser, is an ambitious reporter travelling through Russia on a political scoop. Maura is a talented and up-and-coming pianist who plans for a two-week rest before her audition for a US tour. Maura receives a phone call from Duncan telling her that he has decided to stay in Russia for the entirety of the summer to pursue his story, forcing Maura to stay in Newfoundland for the rest of the summer, thereby missing her audition. This causes her to fall into a depression, pounding on the piano at night, and sleeping throughout the day leaving her children unattended. Maura's father Ian, who lives nearby, begins to suspect that she may be exhibiting signs of bipolar disorder.
One day, Maura takes her children to a nearby island, and in a state of mania, forgets them there. Bonnie breaks her arm, and almost drowns as a result. Maura falls into a state of deep depression. Duncan returns and takes the children to Scotland with him, leaving Maura behind. Maura becomes isolated and violent and refuses to take any medication after being diagnosed with bipolar II disorder by a doctor. Her neighbour Paula finally convinces her to seek help so that she can be reunited with her daughters.
Maura is released from a psychiatric ward 6 months later, once the doctors assess that she is healthy. She wins a legal visitation with her children despite Duncan's protests. However, during a walk in the woods, she twists her ankle and misses the visitation, prompting Duncan to ask for a divorce and full custody of the children. This sends Maura into despair and she travels to the coast with a plan to drown herself at the same wharf where she claims her mother committed suicide.
Maura arrives at the wharf completely disoriented by the illness. She hallucinates that her mother is beckoning her into the ocean. Maura follows the apparition of her mother into the ocean and almost drowns. Maura is rescued by Ben, a lonely trucker who happens to be travelling through. They spend the night together and she joins him on a month long tour of the Atlantic provinces. They fall in love and live together in Tors Cove.
The story jumps 20 years, when Maura is in her mid 40's. Her neighbour Paula delivers her a newspaper with Bonnie Fraser's picture on the cover. Bonnie is a professor who has returned to Newfoundland to lecture at Memorial University about the dangers of climate change. Maura and Ben decide to attend the lecture in hopes of reuniting. When they arrive, they overhear Bonnie discussing her wedding plans which will take place later that month in Newfoundland. Maura approaches Bonnie, but Bonnie doesn't recognize her, leaving Maura distraught. Paula convinces Maura that she should go to Bonnie's wedding. After some convincing Maura hatches a plan to send her two daughters a bouquet of their favourite childhood flowers. She plans to watch them enter the church, and if they carry the flowers, she will know that they have forgiven her for being an absent mother. However as they arrive at the church, Maura has a panic attack and only glimpses them from behind as they enter the church. Maura is too nervous to wait, and as she goes to leave, Bonnie exits the church and sees her mother standing there. They are finally reunited. The end of the film shows both adult Bonnie and Brianna arriving at the Tors Cove home to be with their mother.
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