Terry (David Arquette) is a nervous, straitlaced young man who has given
up on the world. Too timid to create a life of his own, Terry tries to get
his kicks as a voyeur, spying on his neighbors with a pair of binoculars.
Unfulfilled and depressed, he decides to commit suicide by jumping off a
bridge and heads to a liquor store for something to fortify his resolve.
There he bumps into Nick (Brad Hunt), someone he's watched before, but never
met. Terry buys some rotgut booze, and heads off to his doom.
On the bridge, however, Terry can't seem to find the nerve to jump. While
trying to work up his courage, Nick happens along. After persuading Terry
that a suicide attempt by jumping, will not only be extremely painful, but
possibly not even effective, Nick convinces him that instead he should overdose
on sleeping pills. He offers Terry the bottle of pills he has at his apartment,
in exchange for Terry's watch.
At Nick's place, Terry explains that he hasn't been able to overcome the
death of his wife in a car accident. He downs the pills, but suddenly has
a drastic change of mind. He pleads with Nick to take him to the hospital.
Nick says he won't go inside because he's afraid the cops will question
him, but agrees to drop Terry off. At the hospital, Terry has his stomach
pumped.
Spitting mad, Terry confronts Nick at his apartment, demanding that Nick
apologize, or at least return his watch. But Nick has another surprise up
his sleeve--he reveals to Terry that he has a terminal illness and only
has a few weeks left to live. Nick proposes an unusual bargain to Terry:
if Terry will bankroll Nick's lifelong fantasies in the time he has left,
Nick will pay back the favor by killing him.
Persuaded by the force of Nick's personality, Terry accepts. What follows
is a high-spirited crash course in living life on the edge, as Nick and
Terry drop out of their lives for a series of wild experiences, including
dropping acid in public, stealing a car, robbing a bank, and bowling in
the nude with two prostitutes.
When Nick's health takes a turn for the worse, however, they head to redwood
country, where Nick hopes to make peace with his parents (J.E. Freeman and
Allyce Beasley). But Nick's hostile father refuses to welcome home his prodigal
son, so they hole up with Nick's Aunt Elise (Cathy Moriarty), an exotic
dancer. Nick runs into an old friend from high school, Don (Patrick McGaw),
and tries to rekindle an old romance with his former girlfriend Mary (Anita
Barone).
Nick's current girlfriend Liz (Kathryn Erbe), furious at them for disappearing,
finally tracks them down. But realizing that Nick doesn't have much time
left, she has no choice but to forgive him. The group shares some good times,
and Nick reconciles with his father. But Nick's health continues to deteriorate.
He begins to put his affairs in order, and Liz and he get married at his
hospital bed.
Terry, for his part, has realized that he no longer wants to die. Knowing
Nick has opened a new world for him, and he has caught Nick's love of life.
He tells Nick he no longer wants to keep their bargain, and Nick agrees.
After Nick's death, Terry returns to San Francisco, determined to begin
to live. He throws away his binoculars and destroys hundreds of photos he
had secretly taken. Finally, he approaches one of his neighbors on the street.
He reveals that he had been watching her and apologizes, asking her forgiveness.
Terry walks away confident in his transformation from someone who only watched
life going by, to someone who will really live.
Copyright 1994-2008 Film Scouts LLC
Created, produced, and published by Film Scouts LLC
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