Earthquake Weather

A “Art Deco Films” FILM
WRITTEN BY Grant Bayley

Andrew, a Napier doctor, who lost his wife five years ago, lives with his father, Grandad, and son, Ewing. He decides he’d like another wife. Later that night, Grandad, the only family member awake and outside, greets Claire at the front door and invites her to stay. She and Andrew go to a Dance Hall, and a movie. Ewing sees Claire as a prostitute and doesn’t like his father’s association with this woman.

Grandad, on the other hand, has the opposite viewpoint. Tension seemed to be resolving, then the earthquake occurs and all is lost. Grandad dies, Claire is fed up with Ewing’s attitude, and doesn’t see how a relationship between her and Andrew will ever work, so she decides to leave the destruction of Napier as soon as she can.

Andrew is angry with Ewing’s behaviour and says so. Ewing, in distress, seeks solace in his shattered world, and finds Claire. She shows him another perspective on his world, which he embraces. They seek Andrew, who is working in the morgue. All is well and Andrew suggests to Claire a way she can leave the destroyed Napier for Auckland with Ewing, with the promise he will write frequently and visit her when he can get away.