Story and Screenplay by Sara Coover Caldwell

SHELTER ME is the story of JEANIE CARPENTER, a young woman who is involved in an abusive relationship with a violent-tempered biker named CODY. Resolving to break the cycle that has been inherent in her life since childhood, Jeanie flees her West Virginia home and travels to Washington D.C., where she hopes to locate members of her late mother's family. Discovering that they have long since moved away and with no place else to go, Jeanie seeks refuge at a homeless shelter.

Arriving during the middle of a murder investigation being led by POLICE INSPECTOR HARRISON, Jeanie is processed and placed in the women and children's unit by SAM FOX, a cynical and overworked social worker. While Jeanie is interned at the shelter, she forges friendships with an older woman named ALICE and a young child named ELLISON whom she teaches how to defend himself against his abusive mother JOLLEEN. Through her friendships with Alice, Ellison and her love/hate relationship with Sam, Jeanie is able to address and overcome some personal challenges including illiteracy, alcoholism, and low self-esteem. She even manages to secure employment at a local diner.

As the weeks pass, Jeanie slowly begins to rebuild her life, even striking up a relationship with Sam. Another murder at the shelter however, in which Jeanie herself may have been the intended target, shakes the fragile security she has forged. A new discovery that Cody has tracked her down, threatens to shatter it entirely.

Cornered by Cody in an alley after leaving work, Jeanie makes a valiant effort to protect herself but is almost killed in a violent and brutal confrontation. Saved at the last minute by Sam, Jeanie draws upon her newfound self-respect and decides to press charges against Cody. Although Cody is taken into custody, Harrison is unable to connect him to the murders because he was not in town when the first one occurred. Stumbling on to some clues which falsely implicate Sam, Jeanie untangles the web of mystery surrounding the murders, discovering that the true culprit's motives are directly tied in to a black-hearted scheme threatening Ellison's safety. Setting out to save him, Jeanie is forced to face-off against Joleen, who is not really Ellison's mother but a criminal who has kidnapped the boy with the intention of selling him to a ring of child-pornographers so that she can support her drug habit. In the end, Jeanie is able to rescue Ellison but only after almost sacrificing herself. When the smoke clears, Ellison is reunited with his real mother, the murder investigation is solved and Jeanie is given another chance at rebuilding her life- this time, with Sam at her side.

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Jerry A. Vasilatos NITESTAR PRODUCTIONS 6200 Franklin, #410 Hollywood, CA 90028 Phone / Fax: 213-469-5111

"SHELTER ME" © 1997 Sara Coover Caldwell