Closer to the Sun, Part One, explores the hearts and minds of two southern families during one hot summer in fictional Buck County, Virginia, where the heat slowly causes these characters' illusions and restlessness to boil. Members of both families tragically confront the realities of their perceived paradises built in suburbia, learning that their buried desires and desperations could soon become their downfall. The story's heart lies with the youngest members of these two families: Samuel Atticus Tyler is a cheerful youth exploding through his hot summer days of naivety, living them almost like he's in between sweet dreams, as he runs throughout his hometown heaven at an age where he can still be aimless and for that not to be a bad thing. As Samuel prepares to grow up and face the adult world, he encounters the new boy who recently moved in down the street - Daniel Aaron Marshall - who has lost significant faith in his childhood due to the death of his father and the subsequent siege of his broken household by his embattled stepfather. Much to Samuel's simultaneous fear and wonder, his new friend exposes him to the extravagant show of frustration and sorrow happening around him, which acts as a send-off to his once-glorious youth. The beliefs of both boys begin to crossfade while they spark their vibrant and dynamic friendship, which questions such things like religion, love, war, growing up, and what it means to feel infinite, as their souls, rich with the burning embers of youth, become ablaze.

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