SYNOPSIS:

"Smush" is about Mark, who's a community college drop-out trying to find his way. He's estranged from his family, can catch women but can't keep them, and his mouth gets him in trouble with every job or girl he gets. He's lost. Until he finds Jackie, who is part of a band of American Gypsies who travel and hold bonfires and drum circles. Mark and Jackie share a sudden and erotic night together, but he wakes to find her already gone. It'll be a year before he might have the chance to see her again. This drives him to search for direction. But there are bumps along the way. Mark visits his father and learns things about him that gives him a new-found respect. Inspired by his father and by a book given to him by one of the Gypsies, Mark starts to lose his lingering anger and become more zen. Mark gets another dead-end job, and tries culinary school, but neither work out. Meets Jackie again, but she won't commit, won't even give him her phone number, and she walks away. Then Mark's told that Jackie was on a bus that had an horrific accident. He's devastated. He's waited for two years to wake up next to her, and now she's gone. But he trudges on, knowing that "smush" is the sound the heart makes when it's broken beyond repair. Mark becomes a sommelier in the finest restaurant in his father's town. Gets seduced by a sexy girl, settles in. Looks like things are starting to turn around until Mark catches his lover in a tryst. Throws her out. There's the mystery of the three unidentified bodies from the bus accident. Turns out, Jackie is unhappy and married in Utah, afraid to leave her husband or contact any of the members of the drum circle. Until she finally makes her decision, and finds Mark at one of the drum circles. She admits she was cheating with him on her husband, and this shocks Mark. She turns to leave again. Grabs her. Tells her that he's always thought of her as his soul mate, and she admits that's why she's there, to see if the pieces fit. Has Mark finally found his pocket aces?