Meridian

In 1985, 21-year-old Abby is determined to become the youngest woman to sail solo around the world. As her mother lies bedridden with a terminal illness, Abby faces an impossible choice: stay by her mother's side or pursue her lifelong dream. After a heated argument with her father, she chooses ambition and sets sail on her 27-foot wooden boat, haunted by the guilt of leaving her dying mother behind. Alone on the vast ocean, Abby's mental state deteriorates. When she discovers a drowning woman who looks exactly like her (down to a childhood scar on her wrist) she pulls the woman aboard, but fails to revive her. Devastated, Abby eventually dumps the body overboard. Days later, Abby encounters another identical woman drowning. This time she saves her. The doppelgänger, Olivia, has no memory of how she got there. Reluctantly, Abby allows her to stay aboard. As they sail on, Olivia exhibits disturbing behavior -- moving unnaturally, seemingly morphing her shape. After Abby injures her forehead, she's horrified to see Olivia bleeding from the identical spot. Before Abby can understand what's happening, Olivia falls overboard. Paralyzed by fear, Abby doesn't attempt to save her. As Abby continues her journey, she repeatedly encounters more drowning Olivias. Initially anguished, she grows numb to their pleas, eventually steering the boat to run them over. Simultaneously, she realizes she's making no navigation progress despite her instruments and star readings. Desperate for answers, Abby rescues another Olivia, interrogates and tortures her, but learns nothing. They fight, tumbling overboard as the boat drifts away. Abby drowns Olivia, then watches in despair as her boat disappears. Mysteriously, her boat returns from the opposite horizon. As Abby struggles to reach it, Olivia -- somehow alive and aboard -- throws her a life preserver. They drift silently for days until Abby's father's boat appears on the horizon. Fearing for her father's safety, Abby attacks Olivia. During their struggle, a flare gun ignites the wooden boat. Both women end up in the water, and Abby's father arrives, confused by their identical appearance. When he dives in to help both women, Abby climbs aboard his boat, coldly watching as her father swims toward Olivia. As Olivia grips the edge of the boat, Abby wraps an anchor chain around her neck and drops it, pulling Olivia to the depths. While her horrified father surfaces and climbs onto a life raft, Abby sails away with his boat. "I'm going to be the youngest person to sail around the world," she calls back, disappearing into the fog -- having literally drowned her demons to pursue her ambition at any cost.