A small town photographer discovers a strange artifact that allows him to travel into photographs. He uses it to try to solve a series of murders he’s accused of committing himself.
Ep. 4. Aron is taken into custody where the kids visit him. He tells them to retrieve the camera from his studio. Kate attempts to regress Aron again to help him remember what happened the day his parents died.
The PI follows and photographs Eric Meyers as he breaks into Joyce’s business to steal money to pay the council man. Aron regresses but this time all he hears are disembodied voices, enumerating strings of numbers, like a numbers station, and sees strange geometric shapes. The kids head to the studio, find the camera, but are chased by Pardue into the woods.
Ep. 5. With Jack’s extraordinary night vision the boys escape Pardue. The PI blackmails Eric with the photos he took of the break in. Eric threatens to kill him, which the PI secretly records. The medical examiner concludes the mercury in Elizabeth’s and Daniel’s bones was not the cause of death, but a build up from handling old photographic materials. The girl however didn’t work with old film, so her high mercury levels are still a mystery.
The Sheriff releases Aron with a warning not to leave town. Aron and the kids find an antique journal written in French and some old photos from the 1800’s Uncle John had hidden. Aron recognizes Pardue in one photograph.
Ep. 6. Aron deciphers some of the journal discovering it was written by Nicophore Niepce, detailing hidden secrets. He ventures into a regular photo using the projector and finds he’s no longer just an observer in the story, but an active participant, able to interact with the people there. Eric convinces the PI to throw in with him for a share of the development, and persuades him to rob Uncle John of the title deeds. But when he breaks in, the wraith scares him, and he gets hit by a car on the road. The Sheriff investigates and finds his phone reveals Eric and Marcia’s numbers on it as well as pictures of Eric’s break in and affair.
Aron searches Uncle John’s archive and discovers photos that Uncle John took of the murdered girl. Against her parents wishes, she wanted to be a model and had secretly commissioned photos from Uncle John, some taken in the location she was found. Aron believes she must have later entered the photo, but the wraith killed her, her body dumped out dead. Pardue reads old newspaper articles relating to the deaths of Elizabeth and Daniel.
Ep. 7. The Sheriff questions Eric and Marcia about the murder of the PI and the pictures on the phone. Eric learns Marcia hired the PI and Marcia learns Eric was having an affair with the beautician. Aron uses the projector to enter into the photograph he took the day of his trip, the landscape where he finds evidence in the house of his childhood, remnants of his life with his parents. Only it’s different, an alternative life. There are clues also that his parents lived there some time after Aron disappeared.
While Aron is in the photo, Jack and Ham explore the farm and stumble on Uncle John’s body. As they turn to flee, Pardue blocks their way. Aron exits the photo to find Kate distraught - Jack and Ham’s bikes are there, but the kids are nowhere to be found. Aron discovers the scioptic ball is also gone. Kate says she passed a man driving away from the farm. Aron shows her the picture of Pardue - it was him.
Ep. 8. As they hunt for Pardue, Aron explains the scioptic sphere to Kate. He believes Pardue took the sphere and kidnapped Jack and Ham. They find Pardue’s place, and sure enough there’s a high-tech photo projector there with the scioptic sphere and an image inside. But there’s no sign of Pardue or the kids. They enter the image together. Eric takes action to have Uncle John’s lease terminated unless the Sheriff can find him.
Within the photo world, Aron and Kate discover Uncle John alive, being held prisoner. He had entered the photo to look for the dead girl when Pardue had seized him. Jack and Ham are also nearby, and they release them. But Pardue suddenly attacks, and Aron has to fight him off as the others escape back to their world. The wraith appears, but doesn’t attack Aron. As Pardue notices this, Aron injures him and he runs off. Uncle John, Kate and the kids arrive back. Aron arrives moments later. They find Sheriff Bergman searching at the farm. He’s stunned to see Uncle John alive. Alone together later, Aron reveals a chilling revelation to Kate - Pardue was sent via scioptic voyage to assassinate Elizabeth and Daniel Black, and their son, Aron Black.
Aron now believes his parents Elizabeth and Daniel Nemus ARE Elizabeth and Daniel Black. His parents used the scioptic to travel to this world, adopting the name Nemus. But when he was small they disappeared into a different photo leaving him here. He believes his parents could still be alive.
He also believes that his real name is Aron Black!
After their escape from Pardue, Aron realizes his parents may be still alive and that they are the assassin’s target. He explores further into the world of the photographs to try to find them and Uncle John becomes his mentor in this search. Kate learns there may have been a deeper meaning to her coming back to Tempest Falls, that Uncle John was somehow involved, knowing more about her and her family than he admits. She later discovers mention in the Niepce papers about someone who could be her unborn son.
In the photos, Aron discovers subtle clues, a trail of breadcrumbs his parents may have left to lead him to them. Also the startling revelation that his flashbacks in Season 1 were likely flashforwards - his own memories of the future. But there’s a problem - Pardue is often close behind and sometimes even one step ahead. And there’s worse to come. The AI plutocracy dispatched numerous assassins to root out Elizabeth and Daniel. And some may resemble familiar characters we know.
Kate’s aware that Pardue took her son and Ham for a reason. She confronts Uncle John about her return to Tempest Falls and the Niepce papers. He admits he knew her son could be important, but like her, he’s not sure how.
In Tempest Falls Kate bolsters security for the kids but when Ham’s family troubles culminate in her alcoholic father abandoning her, Kate takes her in. She continues to help Aron, venturing into the photos with him, and their relationship blossoms. Jack’s inspired by something he found in Pardue’s sim and begins to learn about quantum AI. But when Kate’s ex-husband, Mike Reynolds, turns up in town, sent to the area by his oil company for gas shale prospecting, Kate’s feelings for him seem to rekindle, sparking jealousy and rivalry in Aron. Also Jack has got accustomed to Aron, seeing him as almost a surrogate father figure, so when his real father appears and wants to make good, he becomes very confused.
Sheriff Bergman continues to investigate the murder of Madeline Khan, his suspicions of Aron only partially allayed by the return of Uncle John. But he’s determined to apprehend Pardue for the kidnap of the kids. He’s also happy to see Mike Reynolds back in the picture, if only because it drives a wedge between Aron and his daughter.
Eric and Marcia Myers’ plan to seize Uncle John’s farm for their real estate development is stymied by his return, but Eric learns that Aron is up to something and there may be far more value in the farm than just bricks and dirt. Eric has an encounter with the Wraith, terrifying him. So much so, one night he mistakes Marcia for the entity and accidentally kills her. Panicked, he dumps her body at the farm in order to frame Aron for her death.
The series culminates in Aron discovering the true nature of his flashbacks - that they were, in fact, flashforward memories to the time of the AI Plutocracy - and he finds his parents alive just before an assassin kills them. But he also learns that the architect of the AI that leads to the AI Plutocracy - the person his own parents were going to stop - is Kate’s son Jack. Aron is faced with the dilemma his parents grappled with - how can he stop Jack? Must he kill him, the son of the woman he loves? And even if he manages to stop Jack, the photographs suggest fate is pre-determined. Can he alter the future, and in so doing destroy his own past?
At Kate’s house, Jack’s in his bedroom innocently playing with his toy cars when Aron walks in. Their eyes meet. Aron’s dilemma is upon him.
VISUAL TREATMENT FOR THE TV-SERIES
When the bizarre death of a teenage girl in a rural Idaho community sparks a murder investigation, chief suspect in its cross hairs is a loner called Aron Nemus.
Acquitted of killing his own parents as a child, Aron spent the intervening years an outcast in his own community. Tormented with guilt but with no memory about their deaths, he found solace working for his kindly uncle in his photography business.
As the investigation heats up, Aron uncovers dark secrets his Uncle had hidden - shocking photographs and a camera containing a strange black sphere.
Aron discovers that the black sphere allows him to travel to the time when the photo was taken. Once inside he can investigate the past, and perhaps even change it. But entering a photo is a perilous journey - for inside is a dark force, a powerful evil, an entity that can track you into our world.
Before he can confront his uncle, the older man is killed in the same bizarre manner as the first victim. And when, shortly after, a sinister stranger, Pardue, arrives in town hunting for the sphere, he realizes there’s far more to his own story than anyone knew.
Aron is arrested for his uncle’s death, but the Sheriff’s daughter, Kate, a psychologist who’s been treating him for memory loss, believes he’s innocent and helps free him.
Now Aron and Kate must solve the mysteries of who killed Aron’s uncle and the teenage girl before the Sheriff puts Aron behind bars for life. What really happened to his parents and what is Aron’s connection to the dark entity?
The truth is hidden in the past…but the past is a door they can now open.
Ep. 2. Aron hides Uncle John’s body, knowing he’ll be accused of murder if it’s found. Eric Myers, the local real estate developer, arrives at the farm with a final demand for unpaid rent. Unaware the farm was on a lease, Aron tells him Uncle John has gone on a photography trip to New York, doesn’t know when he’ll be back. Menacingly, Myers tells him the lease voids upon Uncle John’s death.
While Jack and Ham are out cycling, Jack’s visual ability reveals a blood trail that crime scene investigators missed near the scene of Madeline Khan’s death. It leads to car tracks across the woods. Amateur sleuths, Jack and Ham take an imprint. Kate regresses Aron again. This time he sees his parents chased by a relentless killer, Pardue. Marcia Myers seduces Sheriff Bergman in order to spy on his investigation.
Eric sleeps with the local beautician, Joyce, who demands he leave Marcia.
A stranger arrives in town - Pardue.
Ep. 3. Aron explores another photograph, learning the rules of the altered dimension, but has a terrifying encounter with the wraith. While sleuthing the tire track, Jack and Ham witness Aron entering and leaving the photo.
Eric pursues Uncle John’s land but meets resistance from the local city planner he had in his pocket who wants more money. Kate asks Aron about what Jack and Ham saw, but Aron is able to deflect her.
Suspicious of Eric, Marcia hires a professional private investigator from the city.
Sheriff Bergman learns from the medical examiner that the dead girl’s blood contained high levels of mercury. He orders the bodies of Daniel and Elizabeth to be exhumed and their remains checked for mercury poisoning. The autopsy of the parents reveal they have the same mercury poisoning as the dead girl.
Pardue breaks into the autopsy lab, checks the bodies.
Ep. 1. PILOT
Aron Nemus is 9 years old when his mother and father Elisabeth and Daniel Nemus dies in suspicious circumstances. Traumatized by their deaths, he has no memories of that fateful night. He’s adopted by his Uncle John, but suspicions about him remain in the community and he grows up shunned and isolated.
Twenty years later, when the body of a young girl is found killed in the same horrific way Aron’s parents were, he’s called in for questioning by the Sheriff. It’s clear the older man believes Aron had something to do with the young girl’s death. But with no evidence to implicate him, his Uncle intervenes and brings him home to his old farm. Aron greets Harley, his brown lab, his best friend. The next day, Aron heads out to snowy wilderness with the dog, and they come across a house on a frozen lake. He’s taking photos when a black shape materializes on the lake surface and suddenly shoots into his camera. Aron passes out.
He wakes to find himself in bed at home. Uncle John explains he blacked out, maybe altitude did it. A hiker found him, brought him back. Aron can’t remember. He wants to remember. They develop the image he took, but there’s no black shape. When Aron asks to use a huge special photo enlarger, Uncle John refuses and abruptly ends their session. Aron visits the doctor who rules out physical causes of his amnesia. He refers him to Kate Bergman, a psychologist. Kate is a single mom who moved to town with her son Jack from LA where she was a psychologist. Her father is the Sheriff. She specializes in PTSD and memory retrieval. In fact, she read about Aron’s case, and wants to write him up for a study. Using a new technique she regresses him. He remembers something terrifying and startles out of the regression, sweating, eyes wide…total FEAR.
Out in the forest, a tree is felled. Aron works part time as a trimmer for a logging business. The foreman hands Aron a piece of paper. We don’t see what’s on it. Aron gets back to the house to find Uncle John packing - he’s going to Boise for a few days. As Aron leaves the room he sees Uncle John hiding something inside his mattress. That night Aron drives into the countryside. He arrives at a field where a bare knuckle fight contest arranged by the foreman is on-going. One of the men gets knocked out. Aron pulls off his shirt and steps into the ring. He gets knocked down and experiences a flashback to some previous life. He’s beaten, but seems to not care.
The next morning Kate and Jack call on him. She’s alarmed at his face, the cuts, the bruises. He tells her it was an accident at work. Kate wants to know Aron’s backstory, the deaths of his parents, the suspicion, the town rejecting him, what his uncle told him. Aron wants to remember more, but when he learns she’s the Sheriff’s daughter he’s suspicious of her. She assures him she is totally independent of her father. As they talk, Jack finds Aron’s collection of model cars. He and Aron bond over them.
Sheriff Bergman visits the medical examiner where he’s stumped to learn that Madeline Khan died of a sudden decompression and desiccation. A couple more things show up that are puzzling - a non-native beetle in her ear canal and he finds evidence she’s missing the necklace she wore the day she died. While cleaning the studio, Aron discovers hidden old erotic photos of his mother. Dismayed, he retrieves whatever it was hidden in his Uncle’s mattress - a key. He explores Uncle John’s study and inside a locked cabinet finds an old Pentax camera with an exposed film. A black sphere drops out of the camera.
Aron develops the film in the studio, and finds a space for the sphere in the huge photo enlarger his uncle didn’t want him to use. He blows up the image, but his Uncle returns from his trip, and Aron quickly clears up. He throws the developed photograph in the trash. As he leaves, we see a dark shape materialize in the image, skittering across. The image browns and burns until there’s nothing left but a filament of thick shadow creeps over the edge of the trash can.
Kate’s son, Jack, is new at school. After he impresses in class with his encyclopedic knowledge, a feisty girl called Ham befriends him, despite Jack wanting to be left alone. Meanwhile at the studio Uncle John shows Aron the antique equipment he acquired from Boise, along with old papers. Aron can’t bring himself to question his uncle about the erotic photos or the Pentax camera. Sheriff Bergman visits the Madeline Khan crime scene again and finds a necklace clasp.
Aron lays flowers at his parent’s grave. Returning to his truck he has an altercation with a group of aggressive teens from town. Later at the clinic, he tells Kate about Uncle John’s photos. Kate tells him to confront his uncle about what and when they were taken. Sheriff Bergman interrupts the session and warns Kate off getting too close to Aron. She responds his case is unique, she’s writing a paper. But when she gets back Aron is gone.
Aron returns to the farm and tries again to bring up the erotic photos with Uncle John, but still can’t. Angry, he heads outside with Harley, but the dog chases a shadow figure into the woods and Aron loses him in the dark. He waits up all night but when the dog doesn’t return he’s heartbroken. He makes “dog missing” posters which Kate and Jack help him put up around town. In the studio, we see Uncle John studying old documents and photos, some of which look very strange. Aron returns and heads out into the woods again to search for Harley.
Uncle John pens a letter to Aron. We glimpse only the first few words, some sort of confession. Later, while searching the woods, Aron hears a fire alarm. He dashes back to find the studio ablaze. He bursts in, extinguishes the flames. The smoke clears revealing Uncle John dead on the ground, his body desiccated like his parents’ and Madeline’s. The black sphere drops to the floor out of the projector Uncle John was using, and Aron knows it has something to do with all the deaths.
Aron spots his Uncle’s scorched old documents showing arcane instruments and Uncle John’s now burned illegible letter. He makes a decision, sets the huge projector up and projects the Pentax photo he tried before. Moving in to the light, he finds himself transported inside the image itself. But it only extends a small way, pitch black darkness all around the illuminated cube. He reaches out into the syrupy blackness, but just then, the visible image begins to brown and burn. His finds his leg trapped in the dark beyond the image. Struggling furiously he frees himself just in time before the image fully burns up. He’s back in the studio, clothes smoking from the burning image, terrified of what he’s found.
