FLASHDRIVE

Synopsis

Alice Bloom is a 40-something copywriter at an advertising agency in Washington, D.C. She is the senior writer there and has spent most of her career at this particular agency. She puts up with a sexist boss, Dave, who has just hired an attractive young writer named Jane Hatfield, fresh out of a prestigious Master's degree program at George Washington University in D.C. To add insult to injury, Dave makes Alice take Jane under her wing, showing her the ropes of how the agency works and how to please the clients. Jane acts one way in front of the boss and another way in front of her coworkers, including Alice, her mentor, Sybil, Alice's longtime friend, and Bill, one of the graphic artists who is gay. Alice stays quiet and does what she is asked to do, but it doesn't mean that she has to like what's happening at the office.

After an important client meeting that Jane and Alice prepared for late into the night, and for which Jane independently decides to change at the last minute without Alice's knowledge, Alice is left with a dilemma. Should she tell Dave what Jane did and risk losing the client, or should she cover for Jane and have her daughter, Ophelia, rush the other set of story boards in Alice's home office over to the office in time for the client meeting?

On the home front, Alice would really like to date a nice guy. She's approaching middle age, suffering from terrible hot flashes and not feeling particularly desirable to the opposite sex. She goes to bars on occasion with Sybil and Bill, but only seems to attract men who want to sell her life insurance! Her high school sweetheart husband, Paul, was struck down three years ago while riding his bike in D.C.'s Rock Creek Park. The motorist who hit him was talking on his cell phone at the time, not paying attention to the road. Their children, Ophelia, an art student with impetuous tendencies, and Steve, with a practical nature, still grieve for their father and try to move on with their lives. Alice never had a chance to properly grieve for her slain husband - with the two kids in college and the responsibility of Rose, her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, she doesn't have the luxury of time.

Alice has reluctantly placed Rose in a nearby nursing facility where she can receive the around-the-clock care she needs. Alice feels guilt about this but visits her mother almost every day and includes her as best as she can in family events.

Alice meets Greg Viera, the maintenance man in her apartment by chance when he is stuck up on the roof of their building for a few hours after his ladder is blown down by a gust of wind. Alice and Greg's first date is interrupted by a call from the D.C. police. Ophelia and Rose have been arrested for jumping into a public fountain in the middle of the city!

Greg and Alice prove to be very compatible and go on unique dates including a private tour of the Washington National Zoo. Soon, Jane Hatfield shows her true colors in front of the boss. Ophelia and Steve adjust to their mother dating Greg who proposes to Alice after only two months of dating and then suddenly has to leave for Texas. He must pick up his young daughter after his ex-wife is unexpectedly killed in an auto accident. His daughter, Marta, comes to live with her father in D.C.

Alice's career improves as her boss recognizes her importance to the company and repents of his sexist ways. Dave promotes Alice to a partnership in the agency and she buys a fixer-upper townhouse in the city, just around the corner from her office. Her new blended family, including Greg and Marta, will live in the townhouse and renovate it into the bed and breakfast/bicycle touring company, which she has always wanted.