JESSE STONE: SEA CHANGE (TV)
Summary
One in a series of made-for-television drama films, based on the novels of Robert B. Parker and concerning an emotionally troubled police chief who deals with murder and corruption in a small Massachusetts town. This installment is based on the fifth Parker novel of the same name. During one of their regular late-night calls, Stone's ex-wife Jenn reveals that she's seeing someone new, and neighbor Hilda Evans advises Stone to find solace in the music of Brahms rather than in alcohol. He visits Suitcase, still comatose after the grocery-store shooting, and soon encounters an attractive woman, Sybill Martin, whose Florida-plated car is parked illegally. Stone later confides in former partner Molly Crane, who has left the force to start a family, and Dr. Dix advises him to "find something to do," noting that he drinks less when he's focused on a case. Stone looks into the town's few unsolved homicides and chooses the 1992 murder of a bank teller, Rebecca Lewis, who was taken hostage by a robber and finally found dead two years later. New partner Rose Gammon leads him out to the spot where her body was discovered – and Stone soon unearths the killer's long-buried clothing.
Suitcase terrifies a candy striper when he suddenly regains consciousness, and Rose is distracted by 18-year-old Cathleen Horton, who reports being raped aboard a local yacht, the Lady Jane. Dix notices that Stone is still "inventing" Jenn's life without him, but Stone is more preoccupied with the degraded blood evidence on the bank robber's clothes. The town council grills Stone about Cathleen's case, worried that a rape scandal could hurt tourism, and asks if he is still experiencing distracting "personal issues." Stone questions the security guard from the bank robbery, who worries that he might've fired the shot that killed Rebecca, and Cathleen tells Rose that the yacht owner forced her to perform a striptease before assaulting her, though Stone seems skeptical of her story. Despite Rose's pleas to focus on their more immediate case, Stone resolves to interview Rebecca's mother, who identified her body in 1994.
Stone meets Leeann Lewis, Rebecca's sister, who explains that their mother suffered a devastating stroke right after seeing her daughter's corpse and can no longer speak. She adds that Rebecca was cremated and many of her belongings disposed of, as memories of her are still too painful. Stone encounters Captain Healy and requests his help with the case, and he later warns Cathleen's angry father Sam not to take matters into his own hands before their investigation is complete. He then visits Hasty Hathaway, still in prison on money laundering charges, and he admits that he was present for the robbery in question. Suitcase returns to work and, noticing that DeAngelo clearly wants Stone's job, agrees to help out with the cold case. Rose and Stone visit the Lady Jane and question one Harrison Pendleton, who admits to knowing Cathleen but denies any wrongdoing, and Stone finds himself tailed by Terry Genest, brother of the late Joe Genest and employee of mobster Geno Fish.
Hasty panics that Terry will surely seek revenge on him for his brother's death, and Stone soon guesses that some of Fish's money, laundered by Hasty, was taken in the robbery and never recovered. Sybill, also an associate of Pendleton's, informs Stone that there is video evidence of Cathleen's fateful night on the yacht, and Suitcase begins to wonder if Rebecca was actually in on the robbery herself, though Leeann turns up no useful clues. Stone steals the tape from the Lady Jane and concludes that Cathleen consented to her sexual encounter with Pendleton, and he advises to overcome her shame and come clean with her father to avoid further complications. Stone accepts Leeann's dinner invitation, and she explains that she was estranged from her sister at the time of Rebecca's kidnapping and murder and only returned to care for their mother after making her fortune in California real estate. The two share a kiss before parting ways, but Stone in then suddenly attacked by an unseen figure, presumably sent by Fish.
Stone remains determined to solve the case, and Rose, disgusted by Pentleton's technically legal but morally repugnant actions, furiously orders him to leave town. Healy reveals that Suitcase requested a background check on Leeann, and when he explains that Leeann was reported missing on the very same day as the bank robbery, Stone comes to a shocking realization. He confronts Leeann – who is really Rebecca – and she explains that she committed the robbery along with her sister and took her identity, and the money, when Leeann later died from the guard's stray bullet. Realizing that she has used most of the stolen fortune to care for her mother, Stone decides to abandon the case. Fish is skeptical when Stone tells him the surprising truth about the laundered money, but he agrees to call Terry off. Back at home, Stone calls Leeann/Rebecca but is unable to speak – and Terry bursts in and shoots at him, but Stone returns fire and kills him. Shaken, Stone absconds to his porch with Reggie and his drink. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:27:26
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 120453
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Murder; Robbery
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 2006
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Michael Brandman … Executive Producer
- Tom Selleck … Executive Producer
- Steven Brandman … Producer
- Robert Harmon … Co-Producer, Director
- Cheryl R. Stein … Associate Producer
- Ronni Kern … Writer
- Robert B. Parker … Based upon the novel by
- Jeff Beal … Music by
- Tom Selleck … Cast, Jesse Stone
- Kathy Baker … Cast, Rose Gammon
- Kohl Sudduth … Cast, Luther 'Suitcase' Simpson
- Rebecca Pidgeon … Cast, Leeann Lewis
- Sean Young … Cast, Sybill Martin
- Mika Boorem … Cast, Cathleen Holton
- Stephen McHattie … Cast, Captain Healy
- William Sadler … Cast, Gino Fish
- James Gammon … Cast, Bob
- Nigel Bennett … Cast, Harrison Pendleton
- Vito Rezza … Cast, Anthony DeAngelo
- James Rogers … Cast, Terry Genest
- Jeremy Akerman … Cast, Councilman #1
- John Beale … Cast, Dr. Perkins
- Saul Rubinek … Cast, Hasty Hathaway
- Viola Davis … Cast, Molly Crane
- William Devane … Cast, Dr. Dix
- Scott Wickware … Cast, Sam Holton
- Marcia Bennett … Cast, Hilda Evans
- Kristin Slawter … Cast, Candy Striper
- Tom Gallant … Cast, Councilman #2
- Jean Morpurgo … Cast, Mary Lewis
- Craig Wood … Cast, Waiter
- Todd Hofley … Cast, Alan
- Laura Kohoot … Cast, Bartender
- Philip Dinn … Cast, Cab Driver
- Jonathan Gaudet … Cast, Prison Security Guard
- Gil Anderson … Cast, Jenn V.O.