An unexpected romance between a prison teacher and a man on death row changes their outlook on life.

This year’s PÖFF guest, actor, screenwriter and director Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Lincoln and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) steps behind the camera to tell an unusual love story.

Karen works as a creative writing teacher at an Oklahoma prison. At home, she lives with an abusive husband, but in prison she meets Wilson Shedd – a man on death row who finds in writing a way to come to terms with his past. The bond that develops between teacher and student gradually deepens, and their unexpected love forces them to ask whether they can let go of the past and give themselves a new chance.

Wilson’s past and the death sentence hanging over him complicate their relationship, but it is precisely within the prison walls that Karen and Wilson begin, for the first time, to see the possibility of a different life. Their closeness gives them both the courage to make choices they would never have allowed themselves before.

Starring Amanda Seyfried and Scoot McNairy, the film tenderly yet tensely explores the transformative power of love – even when life has left very few options.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Triin Tramberg