Today we’ll be doing a plot summary of a movie that really spurs your emotions and views on life. October Baby follows the main character Hannah who discovers she was the result of a failed late term abortion. Her father is reluctant to tell her, but her mother decides to give Hannah her original birth certificate. She discusses this whirlwind of events with her lifelong friend Jason who decides to join her with some friends on a trip to Mardi Gras where they will also go in search for Hannah’s birth mother. While this is no doubt a very emotional event, the road trip makes it feel a little lighter for the reader.

The journey starts with a group of friends traveling in a big van with classic pop rock tunes playing on the drive. While a lot of things happen on the journey they are of no great importance to the story or theme. October Baby is a Christian movie and there are a few moments where the messages of Christianity really come across. This includes the scene where Hannah and Jason get a hotel where they accidentally get given a room with only one bed. So determined to not sleep in the same bed, they end up camping out in the lobby together. They also get offered a deluxe luxury suite and while it sounds nice, they only want to get a regular room. These are some of the scenes where you can feel the religious influence from the writer.

Hannah has a breakthrough and finds the hospital where she was born. It is run down and no longer in use so it seems like a bit of a dead end. Jason and Hannah decide to break in to see if they can find anything but then they are arrested for breaking and entering. They explain everything to the police officer who coincidentally knows the nurse whose signature is on the birth certificate. Hannah meets with the nurse who is known as nurse Mary who describes the entire story of Hannah’s birth. She goes on to tell Hannah that her mother tried to terminate her because of her career as a lawyer and that it was a drunken one night stand where she got pregnant. Nurse Mary also states that she was left traumatized that she never went on to assist in such procedures again. By the end of their conversation, she gives Hannah a business card where she can contact her birth mother.

The climax is when Hannah meets her birth mother but it is quite a disappointing situation. The birth mother comes off clearly as uninterested in getting to know her daughter. Hannah sees her with her husband and new baby girl. October Baby ends with Hannah going to a catholic church and running into a priest. She is a baptist but the priest says that he will help anyone who seeks it. He quotes Paul’s epistles and gives her advice on learning how to forgive. It ends on a bittersweet note about Hannah learning forgiveness and how she has learned to forgive her birth mother and adoptive parents.

October Baby is great at going through various Christian and life related topics and resolving them in a nice way without feeling so heavy.