HEAVEN ON EARTH

 Logline:   After losing her husband and daughter in a violent home invasion, a grief-stricken woman retreats to her family's remote desert cabin to live off the grid-only to face the brutal realities of isolation, starvation, and nature's deadly threats, forcing her to fight for survival and rediscover the will to live. 

Heaven on Earth  

After the brutal murder of her husband and 10-year-old daughter during a home invasion in their Las Vegas home, 35-year-old Mattie is left emotionally devastated. Six months later, she sells the house and retreats to her late parents' remote cabin in the high desert country of southern Utah. It's September when she arrives. Determined to disconnect from the world, Mattie smashes her cell phone shortly after settling in. Her goal is to live off the grid, relying as much as possible on the cabin and her own resilience. Built by her father over 40 years ago, the cabin is old but still structurally sound. Her mother passed away 20 years ago; her father died five years prior. Though she hasn't been there in years, Mattie spent much of her childhood at the cabin-memories both fond and painful haunt the space. Early challenges arise as she works to get the cabin operational. By late fall, she's settled in. But in early winter, she notices her large propane tank is depleting faster than expected. In December, while she's away fishing, a bear breaks into the cabin and destroys half of her winter food supply. In January, the propane runs out. Mattie switches to an old kerosene heater for warmth and cooking. Her remaining food dwindles, and she begins hunting to survive-mostly rabbits, which barely keep her nourished. Around this time, a mountain lion begins stalking her during hunting trips, shaking her to her core. Out of desperation, she tries to drive the 50 miles to the nearest town, navigating primitive, snow-covered roads. During a severe January storm, she slides into a ditch and becomes stranded. With no other option, she hikes two miles back to the cabin through freezing snow. In February, the kerosene runs out. She resorts to using 5-gallon propane cylinders in a fire pit to keep warm. Starving and weak, she continues to hunt, but the food is never enough. Then, one day while out in the snow, she finds the mountain lion that had been stalking her-dead near one of her old hunting spots. Mattie had been waiting for a propane delivery scheduled for March 15th, but it never comes. In early April, facing death, she realizes her only option is to hike out. While reading through one of her father's old journals-found in a large black trunk-she discovers a story about a trail he discovered 45 years ago that led him to the land where he built the cabin. He called the trail "Heaven on Earth." The journal includes a hand-drawn map. According to it, the Heaven on Earth trail leads 30 miles south to a major highway. Summoning her last strength, Mattie straps on an old backpack and begins the trek, hoping to save herself.