Logline:

A young scientist and daughter of the mission commander, Nev, and a newcomer and mechanical technician , Eli, are the last inhabitants of what was once a thriving colony  on Mars. They were left behind to scuttle the facility after a failed 40-year mission. They begin a desperate search for water after seeing their home planet torn apart.  An errie tension haunts the base which now is the last hope for humanity

Synopsis:

DEN, a science station on Mars, was once a thriving colony.  It is being shut down after a 40-year habitation.  The last shuttle for Earth departs and now there are only two workers left behind to scuttle the outpost that once had a thousand people living in it.  Eli has never been off the planet before. He fancies himself to be kind of a space cowboy.  There is no one better at fixing and re-purposing old technology than Eli.  Nev is the daughter of the first lead scientist on the station. She is one of 40 people who were born and raise on Mars. She knows no other home.  She is as bright as she is intense.  There is almost no compatibility between the two remaining colonists. A fact which they find out later was carefully planned by the powers that be. They go about their separate missions only coming into orbit at mealtime and occasionally when their skills are needed in a complementary role. They eventually find a kind of troubled coexistence that verges on being satisfying to both of them. Alarms go off in the station.  Three launches are detected on the Earth’s surface. A flash. An asteroid rips the blue planet apart. The two now need to do what the previous scientists had never been able to do, find  water.

The Chinese ship is the first to contact them on Mars. They were attempting a risky slingshot maneuver around the sun in order to reach the red planet. It did not work and their orbit is deteriorating. The only thing Nev can do is comfort the doomed captain as he scuttles the ship.

The American ship plotted a direct course for Mars. There was an accident entering the atmosphere and all on board were lost. Eli tries to salvage some of the supplies that were supposed to build a new world. It’s the most advanced technology he has ever seen and in spite of the circumstances he is excited.

The Russian ship was the only one to arrive on Mars intact. They plotted a course to the nearest intersection with the future orbit of mars around the sun and then waited. The wait killed all but one astronaut who arrives on Mars as a deeply troubled and wounded individual. Vitelly brings the two residents of the station together and they form an intrepid bond. Russians never believe that what they are going to do is going to succeed. That’s why they do it – to prove themselves wrong. He brings a kind of crazed recklessness into the station which eventually leads them to formulate a plan. They have three options and they choose the riskiest of the three. It takes Vitelly’s life and Eli’s humanity and Nev’s brain to see the final mission through. They find the one thing that means there may be a future for humanity.