Future Imperfect

The streets are a spider's web of new tributaries. Everything is underwater. Don't worry about us, but nothing is the same anymore.

It's 2050 and the River Rh獼e has flooded the town of Arles in France so Helen and Isha leave to join their adopted daughter Jana and eleven-month-old granddaughter Ayo in England.

But at Calais, they find that if Isha crosses the Channel, she will be immediately deported as her grandparents were Ugandan-Asian. Faced with the terrible dilemma, Helen chooses to remain with Isha.

Homeless and now stateless, they decide to seek refuge in a friend's Swiss mountain chalet, but to avoid immigration checkpoints they have to walk, following the Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, and now the preferred escape corridor for refugees fleeing climate catastrophes.

Horrified at her parents embarking on such a dangerous journey, Jana resolves to follow. However, this is not so easy. They communicate whenever and however they can while battling with exhaustion, terror, and virulent xenophobia as people struggle to protect their increasingly scarce resources.

The journey ends in Parma, Italy, a perfect destination for reasons they could never have imagined.