SYNOPSIS

SHORT SYNOPSIS

The Road to Galena follows one man’s pursuit of personal fulfillment over traditional success. Cole Baird ( Ben Winchell ) has everything — a beautiful wife, successful career, large home and membership to an elite country club.

Behind the facade, however, is a man trapped by his surroundings and falling ever behind in the pursuit of his life’s dream.

Not strong enough to confront his father’s expectations, he left his true love, his best friend and a fulfilling life in small town America to embark on a legal career — intent to, one day, return.

Now the rising star in Washington social circles and the youngest managing partner in the history of a powerhouse D.C. law firm, Cole is given the choice to continue the path of success in a life to which he never aspired or to return to the community that nurtured him.

LONG SYNOPSIS

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave

with the song still in them.”

Henry David Thoreau

Summer 1998.  Galena, Maryland.  Population 428.  Cole ( Ben Winchell ), his girlfriend Elle ( Aimee Teegarden ), and his best friend Jack ( Will Brittain ) are inseparable.  Together, they spend their days on the idyllic Maryland shore basking in the glow of young love, friendship, rural charm, and unspoiled nature. 

Cole loves farm life and the simple pleasures it offers 一 hard work, a connection to the land, the satisfaction derived from working with his hands under the heat of a nurturing sun 一but Cole’s domineering father, a manager at the local bank, is relentless in preaching his dogma of ambition to Cole. Cole must leave the limited life afforded him in Galena and pursue the American dream that eluded his father ( Jay O. Sanders ).

A foregone conclusion, Cole proceeds down the path laid out for him: a Georgetown Law degree, marriage to Sarah ( Alisa Allapach ) 一 “the right girl” 一 and ultimately partnership in a prestigious law firm. Things come easily to Cole, and he reluctantly embraces this new, dissociative life amid the political razzle-dazzle of Washington.

Galena becomes a distant, hazy memory. With Cole gone, Elle and Jack fall in love and start a family. As Cole’s star rises on the DC scene, Jack’s farm falters. Cole’s visits to help his old friend become more and more infrequent. When Cole does come back to Galena, his estrangement weighs on him. 

Happiness eludes him, and he longs for everything he left behind… and everyone he left behind with it. His marriage is not perfect, his life is not perfect, and his dreams are not his.

Cole still feels the pull of a small town 一 his small town 一 and he aches for the community’s humility, beauty, and care for the human spirit, but he begrudgingly returns to Washington and his life in the fast lane…

…until something happens that brings Cole back to Galena, this time for good.