Two wrongfully imprisoned men emerge after 25 years to reclaim their buried treasure, but first they must decide whether to trust the friend who betrayed them decades ago.

SYNOPSIS:

Two boys, one black, the other white, play a game of intense checkers set on a table covered with empty beer cans as an old B&W television blares in the background. Suddenly, a partially wrapped chess set smashes onto the table. An elderly man sings ‘happy birthday’ to Zack. His voice and actions make it clear he is totally inebriated. Zack Gibson, once a competitive child with an interest in mathematics, dreams of escaping his ‘impoverished’ existence. At age 35, he befriends Gertrude Higginbotham, a prominent socialite who invites him back to her home. Once there, he is surprised to learn that she plans to divorce her abusive husband, but not before siphoning his money off to an offshore location. She entices him to act as the courier of the cash. Zack goes to his childhood friend, a cautious John Karamu, for help. John tells Zack about places offshore where money is stashed and that the US Government cannot trace it, and how Zack must stash it in a place where only he knows where it is. Zack rejects the idea and returns to Gertrude’s to inform her that he cannot be part of her plan. Once there, he is shown an oversized backpack filled with cash along with two plane tickets. When her husband, William Higginbotham, enters the room, he engages in a scuffle with Zack and John and, in the process, falls to the floor, striking his temple on the edge of the coffee table. Gertrude, John, and Zack are stunned as they stand over the dead body. Zack helps Gertrude dispose of the body while John escapes with the money. Zack has no choice but to consider John’s offshore idea. To escape possible charges, Bill and Zack arrive in Belize. With a backpack in tow, they rent a hotel room and explore Belize City to find a place to store the cash until they can leave the country. Once they have identified a potential hiding place for the money, Zack learns that William was reported to have been murdered by two hitmen. The Belizean authorities are asking questions about the two visiting Americans. This forces John to come up with a plan for them to escape the country. While fleeing the police, the two are forced to stash the money in the walls of a historic hotel. John and Zack elude the police but are forced to leave the money in their secret hiding space. Zack, troubled over being forced to leave the money behind, must return to the US and avoid the authorities. However, when they land in Denver, the plane is boarded by police, and both men are arrested. While serving nearly 25 years in separate prisons, John (who is technically on a conditional parole and is being used by the corrupt prosecutor to trick Zack into leading them to the money) and Zack (who wants the money for himself) are both fixated on returning to their offshore bounty and blame each other for their incarceration. Once released, they meet up to discuss the

plan over a game of chess. Evelyn, John’s nursing aide, is introduced to Zack for the first time. He is intrigued by her and tries to learn more despite John’s resistance. Too old to retrieve the money themselves, John and Zack hire two twenty-somethings to retrace their steps and find the cash they hid nearly thirty years ago. The two surrogates arrive in Belize, and the ‘cat and mouse’ pursuit begins. Zack secretly texts instructions to his niece. John does the same with his grandson, Marcus Karamu. Guided by their covert messages, the two ‘pawns’ are in a dead heat as they both race to discover the designated spot. When Marcus reaches the hotel, he opens the door and finds Gertrude there, sipping a glass of champagne. She is seated on the bed. Marcus is perplexed as to who she is and why she knows about the cash. Suddenly, the door is kicked in, and several men attack them, leaving Marcus beaten and bruised. With the money found, the truth is revealed accidentally to John via a phone call from Gertrude to Evelyn’s phone. He looks around and sees both Jack and Evelyn lying on the floor. They are dead. A local detective arrives at John’s house and explains to him that they followed Gertrude to Belize and believe that she made off with the money. He also questions John about Zack and Evelyn, who have not been seen in weeks. John says he didn’t know anything, and the detective leaves. John is seated at the chessboard, preparing to play a solitary game of chess. Suddenly, an old backpack crashes onto the table. John reaches for the King and pushes it towards the camera.

ROCKING CHAIR MONEY BY ARTHUR O. THOMAS AND TOM STOHLGREN