Liz Beebe

Free Hugs captures the "rock bottom" moment of post-breakup wallowing, when friends lose their patience, and the pitiless world moves on without you. We follow the hilariously bitter Billie (Jaclyn Jonet) as she attempts to find catharsis through comfort food (and wine), sawing her belongings in half and attacking a particularly meaningful local monument. Ultimately Billie must slam into the harsh reality of heartbreak before she can understand that sometimes the purest form of love is a free hug from a stranger.

A young boy asks his pregnant mother if he will like his baby brother, and he asks her if she has a brother. This sends the mother, Lisle, on a reverie of her relationship with her older sister, Aurora, when they were kids and their mother was dying. Flashbacks show the contrasting reactions of the two girls, Aurora's anger and Lisle's innocent determination to find her mother. The boy's questions also prompt Lisle to visit Aurora and to tell her a story.