A retired widower takes a road trip to Mexico to fulfill his dying wife’s last wish: Reconnect with his alienated rock music son.

SYNOPSIS:

A keyboardist/composer in a world-renowned band learns that on his mother’s deathbed his estranged father promises to reconnect with him on a road trip to Mexico. This journey reveals how hurt the dad was following his son’s drop out of college to pursue his music dream that began with his mother’s piano lessons early in life, even though his dad wanted him to take over his business. The coldness between them is obvious as they drive through northern Mexico to a small desert city where his dad dug wells for the Peace Corps 20 years ago. But the son reveals his language skills and is recognized and performs with a local restaurant band on the way—startling the dad. They eventually reach the destination city that has turned into a dried up ghost town with a dripping well-head and only 2 residents who need their help. They learn that the near-death eldest woman wants last rites before dying and the other, her daughter, pleads for help getting her to a cathedral—but that both remember that the father was the well-digger there as a young man years ago. After driving the ladies to a church in a big city where last rites are given and to a hospital where the elderly mother dies, the musician son pays for and handles all funeral arrangements while the other woman bonds with the dad and tries to encourage the reconnection. Again on the return trip the dad observes his son’s popularity, learns how wealthy and famous his son is, how unworldly and good his son is, and gradually accepts his son’s choices. They finally bond and forgive each other. The dad learns that the inscription on his wife’s headstone is the lyrics of his son’s most popular song. He drives miles to attend his son’s band’s concert and sees firsthand what his son has become.

WHATEVER I WAS