Signal Fires

Sarah Wilf is Benjamin and Mimi Wilf’s daughter. At age 17, she is involved in a car accident that kills another teenager, Misty. Sarah takes the blame for the accident by lying that she, and not her younger brother Theo, was the one driving the car. She is largely characterized by her successes, and left without external consequences for the accident because of her sterling reputation as a star athlete and student. However, her guilt follows her throughout her life, developing into internal conflict. Sarah becomes a successful Hollywood producer, wife, and mother, but still cannot shake her guilt. Sarah’s guilt manifests as a struggle with alcoholism and a desire to be punished sexually (through BDSM).

When her mother Mimi dies, Sarah rethinks her life. She decides to seek help for her alcoholism, but her life still feels chaotic after recovering. She finally learns that she can’t move on unless she comes to terms with her culpability in Misty’s murder. Although Sarah wasn’t the one driving that night, she had been drinking and convinced her sensitive, self-conscious brother to drive. Later, at an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting, she hears a man share a tragic story, and is inspired to take accountability for her part in the accident. She also reaches out to Theo, breaking the Wilfs’ cycle of keeping the accident a shameful secret.

Theo Wilf is Benjamin and Mimi Wilf’s son, and Sarah’s younger brother. He is a troubled boy who becomes a troubled man. As a teenager, Theo is self-conscious about his weight and living in his older sister’s shadow. He has a crush on a girl named Misty, which is why Sarah invites Misty out with them one night. Theo panics while driving (due to injuring himself with a cigarette lighter) and crashes the car into the oak tree outside of the family home, killing Misty. When Sarah takes the blame for driving, Theo doesn’t tell the truth. He is plagued by guilt and incapable of figuring out how to live his life. He drops out of college and moves in with his parents, only to disappear to Argentina without a word.

Throughout his five years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Theo barely communicates with his family. He finally returns home, first to his beloved sister Sarah, who has always stood up for him. In Argentina, Theo learned how to become a chef, which forever changes his relationship with food. Instead of purging on food to quell his internal conflict, he discovers how to use food to feed and nourish others. He becomes a successful chef in New York City, but still struggles to find personal happiness. Theo is careful when it comes to dating because he is scarred by Misty’s death. He keeps others at a distance, uncertain how to allow people to love him when he doesn’t love himself. However, he loves his nieces, Sarah’s twin daughters, and expresses this love by making their lives happy—a lesson he learned from his mother Mimi.

Mimi Wilf is Benjamin Wilf’s wife, and Sarah and Theo’s mother. She is the embodiment of maternal love. She loves her children unconditionally and thinks about them often, even when suffering from Alzheimer. Mimi’s Alzheimer’s changes the dynamics of the family because she is the glue that holds them together, now unable to fulfill her maternal role. When Mimi runs away from her nursing home, her family is forced to come together again, highlighting her importance to them. They all honor Mimi’s memory by staying close after her death. The death is also a formative moment for Waldo Shenkman, who learns how to confront mortality first-hand.

Waldo Shenkman is an intelligent boy with a passion for stars. As a child, he is misunderstood by his father Shenkman and fears his temper. Despite this fear, Waldo can’t help but sneak out of the house at night with his iPad to study the constellations through his beloved app Star Walk. He is bullied at school for his fixation. He doesn’t have friends, but comforts himself with the vastness of the universe. Waldo befriends his neighbor Benjamin Wilf, who is kind and offers a safe space to share his love for stars. This friendship is, unbeknownst to Waldo, born from the past, as Ben helped Waldo’s mother Alice in a home delivery.

Waldo runs away from home after a particularly bad fight with his father, an event that propels the main plot. His running away into the winter night highlights how lonely and rejected he feels. He finds an outdoor mall to stay at for the night, where he meets Mimi, who also ran away. Waldo is scared but puts his fear aside to help Mimi. He uses his iPad to comfort her with images of constellations, and shares his clothes to keep her warm. Waldo is present for Mimi’s death, an initially traumatic moment that teaches him that life doesn’t end in death. At a young age, he experiences being immersed in the deceased’s energy, which he equates to stardust turning into another star. Waldo is at peace with Mimi’s death because he finds beauty in it, seeing Mimi at various stages of her life—further evidence that time is a loop.

As an adult, Waldo’s life changes yet again when his mother Alice dies of cancer. Despite Alice forcing Waldo through years of therapy (which he didn’t need), it is Alice who helps him understand how to give and receive love. Her death creates further distance between Waldo and Shenkman, but brings Waldo and Ben closer together. Waldo develops a deep friendship with Ben over his mother’s death. Later, Waldo becomes an astrophysics student celebrated, not ostracized, for his brilliance. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forces him back home with his father. Despite his father becoming a kinder person with time, Waldo can’t let go of their past traumatic relationship. Waldo ultimately leaves his father for Ben because he decides to embrace love, the mysterious nature of time.

Shenkman is Waldo’s father and Alice’s husband. He is a man who is embittered by his life. Although on the outside, he has everything (a family, house, and job), he is deeply unsatisfied. Shenkman is obsessed with his rowing machine because it makes him feel like a younger man again, capable of making different decisions. He had a fraught relationship with his own father and thus, doesn’t know how to be a father to Waldo. He finds Waldo strange but loves him, making him even more frustrated with his own lack of sensitivity. Shenkman is finally forced to change when Waldo runs away, as it confronts him with the real possibility of losing Waldo forever. He is so relieved to find Waldo alive that he resolves to be better, kinder.

During the car ride home after finding Waldo with the deceased Mimi, Shenkman avoids lecturing or yelling at Waldo. Instead, he chooses to connect to his son by supporting him and sharing the story of his birth. However, this moment is fleeting, as it takes years for Shenkman to learn to control his temper and let go of his resentment. When Alice passes away, he realizes he took her and their love for granted. When Waldo returns from college due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shenkman has become a different person—kinder and more sensitive. However, it proves too late for Shenkman and Waldo to bond, as Waldo remains scarred by his father’s treatment.