Wren Miller gets an unusually large bag full of letters almost every day, and almost everybody in her quiet Upstate New York neighborhood wants to know what she’s up to. The soft-hearted mailman, her pathologically nosy neighbor Jo Jo, the grouchy police detective, all become completely preoccupied with Wren’s daily routine.
She’s a young woman with an elegant stride going someplace with her letters every day, but the neighbors can’t figure out where. The story opens with Walter (M. Emmet Walsh), an elderly man who seems to have lost his interest in life, deliberately walks out into the street and gets hit by an oncoming car. Wren calls the police, but strangely, she called in the accident before it happened. Walter survives, seemingly no worse for wear, but no more lively either.
Wren is a gentle, but curious figure. She recognizes rare birds and knows deep secrets of the neighborhood, and somehow touches people at a level they can’t articulate. But what about all those letters? We follow the neighbors progress as they try to spy, follow, even snag a couple of them for themselves, because they can’t stand the mystery.
Donna Olson, beautifully played by Macy Gray, is Wren’s landlord’s and is one of the few townspeople not concerned for Wren’s mysterious routine. This slowly unfolding story feels a bit like a devotional. How you interpret it or identify a theme might just have to be up to you. We see people dealing with pain and grief, and with a little bit of friendliness figure out to open up a bit.
Change in the Air is Dove-Approved for Ages 12+.
The Dove Take
Change in the Air is a gentle stroll through a tiny street and a few neighbors who learn to be present for one another.
