The Probable Future

Based on the novel by Alice Hoffman
Screenwriter: Sally Robinson
Director: Katja von Garnier

For thirteen generations, women of the Sparrow clan awaken to special powers on their 13th birthday. When Stella Sparrow turns 13, her gift is revealed — she now has the ability to see how people will die. One of her premonitions lands her father in jail, wrongly accused of homicide. A thriller ensues as Stella is stalked and sent away from Boston to live with the grandmother she never knew. Here Stella discovers the truth of her family history. Three generations of estranged Sparrow women must come together to survive the real killer as they navigate their own relationships and new connections.

"The Probable Future" tells the story of a family of New England women with a mysterious legacy — for thirteen generations, on their 13th birthday, an extraordinary gift is revealed to each girl that is uniquely her own. Jenny Sparrow is able to see people’s dreams, while her aging mother Elinor is able to discern a lie. But Jenny rejects the prophecies and fantasy of her heritage. She leaves Elinor and tries to create what she hopes is a normal life for her daughter Stella.

It is Stella’s 13th birthday. When her gift comes, it is unusual, terrifying and unwanted. Stella has the ability to see when and how people die. When Stella has a vision about a death and asks her father to help prevent it, a terrible chain of events unfolds, entangling the family in a murder mystery. This ordeal leads Stella to the grandmother she was forbidden to meet and to a historic family home full of talismans. The killer traces Stella to Elinor’s and she must outrun both danger and the persecution of the Sparrow family. Jenny comes to the aid of her daughter and is reunited with her own mother, reclaiming her family’s legacy. Stella uses her gift to stop the killer and free her ancestor of an age-old injustice.

Back to Films