Story:Unspooled/Scratchpad/2013
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Summer 2011: Since he was five, boy raccoon Samson Dixwell always wanted to visit Marie-Galante whenever he visited the village of Marigot—but his parents couldn't afford the time or money to take him, nor his aunt, nor Molly at the Floribonde. Now, thanks to a wide-scale family reunion, and his uncle Matthew's film shoot in Marie-Galante, he chances on an easy way out—by means of hot-air balloon. But first, at the request of his school friend Daniel, he must retrieve a long-missing part of local history.
According to Daniel, a stash of long-missing film footage awaits recovery. And an important one—since it was actually shot in Dominica's northeast around 1931, and reportedly remains hidden somewhere within this realm. Sam has a lot of places to look for it, and eventually finds what may be it at a vacant cottage in Wesley. Little does he know that a rusty old coot is demanding a whopping US$10 million to whoever craves it. The fun, frolic and frenzy of the reunion—along with a ring-tailed cat's infatuation towards him—are further keeping him back from telling the world.
Some time later, Sam and the whole gang initiate a unique online crowdfunder, in which 97,000 online users raise enough money for the footage. After the raccoon finally reaches Marie-Galante with his treasure, he finally visits the set of Matthew's movie—and is in for a big disappointment. The director, his foster son Nathaniel, his girlfriends Malaika and Hilda, and much of the crew aren't around at this point!
It turns out that they are shooting in Dominica as well, and Sam was never informed about this. (They only announced their move on Pastebin, whose existence few Dominicans are aware of.) Even Matthew himself has some unfinished business to settle with the coot's friends.
Sam is in for much worse: he drifts away from the French island on Mathew's balloon, unattended, after a skunks' party—and gets punished some time after he is rescued. Days later, he realises that he's holding the wrong footage: A pack of ragamuffin bears and their friends swapped it for a pile of newsreels from the late 1940s—one of which could shed some light over the "reel" deal's mystery.
Even Matthew can't finish his movie—his ongoing woes culminate in a targeted detonation that wipes away all of his set...and kills Nathaniel in the process. The director sinks into a terrible depression, yearning for the good times he had with Hilda (his ex) in his hometown of Toronto—and facing bitterness towards the downward spiral that came afterward. Even worse, he has filmed only 25% of the script—in sequence—and that causes him to reflect on what went wrong. To top it all off, his fellow investors have officially cancelled production and are preparing a write-off—with only ten days left.
When the dust clears, Matthew turns to the locals—and his nephew, above all—to take care of what remains. Mayhem ensues the sooner they wrap up—when they face off against the bears and their allies, who are riding aboard the fleet they stole from the filmmaker's team. In this final airborne showdown, only Sam has what it takes to prove his worth—and his innocence.
Not if the bears' headmaster—that old coot with the Wesley home—can help it.