 Love, drugs and murder are the backdrop for Orphans and Angels, a new film noir from New Zealand by first-time director/writer/editor Harold Brodie. Our story begins with the return of John after a five-year mysterious absence. A chance meeting in a bar and a girl on the street set the stage for this dark and passionate tale. Theresa is immediately taken by John s charm. A rape victim from childhood, she is shy and somewhat an innocent who is ever hopeful that she will fall in love. Theresa offers John a ride to a youth hostel, meets him for drinks, and soon takes him home. Together in her apartment, they take Ecstasy, the first time for Theresa. Through a maze of drugs, wine and warmth, she shares her troubled past, her hopes and her dreams with John, all the while slipping more and more under his control. Slowly John s haunted past begins to filter into their dream world and Theresa s life is changed forever. Kim, Theresa s best friend, and Billy, John s partner in drug dealing, eventually pull Theresa out from under John s spell, but only at a price greater than life itself.