New Year's Day

Jake and Steven are 16 and living in a small town on the South coast. It's the end of Christmas term and they're excited about the skiing holiday they're about to go on. But it's not just the holiday, it's everything. 16 going on 17 is a great age to be, and Jake and Steven know that the next year is going to be the best ever, with better parties, more laughs, even less parental control and all the girls a year older and maybe this year they'll make good promises.


So Jake, Steve and their classmates go with Mr. Diamond, their English teacher, to France to ski. One of their friends, Heather, has brought along a videocam and is making a documentary about them all, what they want, who they want, ambitions and fear, that kind of thing. Day one they hit the official slopes but the next days it's off-piste. The eleven friends lark about for Heather's camera when BANG! The avalanche hits and they're all swept away on a sea of snow.


Jake wakes up buried in a snow-cave next to Steven. He thinks they're both goners but next time he wakes up it's hospital, rescued. He finds Steven in a nearby bed. Everyone is dead, all of them, Heather, Mr. Diamond, everyone . . .


Back home it's a huge tragic news story. Jake and Steven fly back to their families and a grieving town with the coffins of their friends on the plane with them. As the town, school and families struggle to come to terms with it, Jake and Steven are lost, separated from everything, unable to understand.


They meet and talk. Why didn't we die too? What should we do? What's the point? They stand on a high cliff and look down. Should they jump? No. They decide they'll make a book and fill it with a series of tasks, not important tasks, just things they want to do before they die. And they'll spend the year doing them . . .