Film Synopsis

The film begins with the main character, a teenage girl named Cicely, sitting under a tree. She has a different style to other teenagers and her hair is a very bright shade of red. From this, we already see that she is an outcast. She is on her own and sitting under a tree that reflects her, it is very obscure and twisty. The girl opens her bag which was lying by her foot and pulls out a lighter with a cat on it, and some pieces of paper. She places them all on the floor in a pile and picks one up. She sets alight to a photograph and we see close up that it is a photo of her, a man and a woman. She puts it on top of the pile and the pile of paper sets alight quickly and easily. She's upset and her eyes are watering. The fire burns out and she slowly and sadly walks away.
She then walks to what we assume is home, walking along walls on her way and brushing past things without really acknowledging their existence. She doesn't seem to have a direction or any great need to be anywhere.

The scene then cuts to her at home, pottering around in her room. From this we see more of what she is like and the things she is interested in. The house is oddly silent. She sits down at a typewriter and begins to write something, struggling at some points. We see the words 'I miss you' and she signs off with her name. She then puts this in an envelope, seals it, and leaves the house. She rides an old-fashioned bike with a large basket down a few country lanes and eventually comes to the post box. She posts the letter and cycles away. Then there are scenes of her waking up six or seven times, all on different days with assorted clothing and hairstyle etc. On the eighth day, a woman comes into her room to wake her up and hands her a letter. Cicely reads the letter through, smiling occasionally but remains stony faced for most of it. We see 'love Mum' at the end of the letter. The camera then zooms out and she sticks the letter to a pinboard above her bed which also has many other letters stuck to it. In the middle, there is a family tree with blank spaces. There is no picture in the Mum, Dad or Brother boxes.