The Pebble & The Boy

Inspired by the album track of the same name, The Pebble and the Boy is a modern day road trip of discovery for nineteen year old John Parker who sets off on an eventful journey from Manchester on his late father’s Lambretta to scatter the dead man's ashes into the sea in Brighton, spiritual home of the Mods. 

When John’s estranged father is knocked off his scooter and killed in an accident, John finds himself inheriting a home dominated by memories of him in the shape of Paul Weller memorabilia, a fish tail parka and a dented Lambretta. Overwhelmed by guilt and loss, John wishes he had spent more time with his father and indulged him in his love for all things Weller and scooters. But like a lot of teenagers, John had treated his father with disdain, embarrassed that he was the only postman who delivered letters on the back of a bike adorned with a multitude of mirrors and lights. 

John’s anger at his father's death threatens to consume him. When a discussion with his mother Dawn over where his dad’s ashes should be scattered turns into an argument, John jumps on his father’s scooter and sets off in the general direction of Brighton, carrying the ashes inside his father’s fishtail parka. What starts out as act of petulance towards his mother soon leads to John discovering more about his father after his death than he ever did while he was alive. Through encounters with old mod friends of his father and their children along the way, John comes to realise that his father was far more than a postman. A brilliant dancer, a political activist, and a man willing to sacrifice his own liberty to save others, John’s dad was a mod of distinction and someone who carried a secret to the grave. Discovering two tickets to see Paul Weller at Brighton Pavilion in the parka, John is propelled towards Brighton, where he feels the answers lie to why his parents split up and why his father was absent for the first four years of his life. 

Accompanied on the journey by two of his father’s friend’s children, the beautiful and free spirited Penny whom he falls in love with and the comically drug addicted Liam, they travel through stunning English countryside towards a climax that will change all their lives forever. A skirmish with friendly Hells Angels, a run in with the law and a close shave with a couple of swinging farmers combine to make this one scooter run that none of them will ever forget!

Arriving in Brighton, John is shocked to find out the real reason behind his parents split as he discovers that his father sacrificed his own liberty to save others and spent four years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. 

The Pebble and the Boy is a film full of humour but at its heart is a story about the love between a boy and his father.