Episode
1 : The Coming of the Bear
The
story opens during a snowstorm in New York City. The series characters
are introduced: two brothers, nineteen and twenty years old, who call
each other “Bear” and “Fish,” and the Brier family: the mother, Jean,
and her two daughters, Blanche and Rose, who are eighteen and seventeen
years old.
The Brier family encounters a mysterious young man during a snowstorm,
and the oldest daughter has an intuition that their family is about
to get caught up in something dangerous.
Episode
2: Poetry and Reality
At
their Catholic school, the sisters deal with the taunts of schoolmates
and the advances of a popular young man who is interested in Rose.
Rose hears the story of the murder of one Fr. Raymond, whose cache
of golden vessels disappeared with his death. Back at home, their
mysterious visitor, Bear, returns, and the sisters have opposing reactions
to his offer of friendship. Rose wants to believe him, while Blanche
still doubts his motives. Meanwhile, Bear’s brother Fish is also mistrustful
of Bear’s involvement with the family – but for far more concrete
reasons.
Episode
3: A Snowy Journey by Night
Despite
Bear's secrecy and Blanche's misgivings, the friendship between Bear
and the family grows. When a surprise trip out at the opera is over,
Bear suddenly invites the girls to come to his "castle"
- the abandoned church of St. Lawrence, where Fr. Raymond was murdered
years ago.
Episode
4: Dreams and Shadows
Bear
and the girls continue to be friends, and the most popular guy in
school asks Rose to the senior prom. Rose is jubilant but Blanche,
shy and unpopular, rushes home in tears when her sister breaks the
news. Distraught, Rose takes a walk in Central Park that afternoon
and finds herself trapped by a sinister young man.
Episode
Five: Solo in the Park
That
Saturday, the sisters, now reconciled, go thrift-store shopping for
prom dresses and meet the irritable Mr. Freet, an old man who hangs
out at their Catholic high school. He is irritated by them, but their
conversation is cut short when they all notice a strange transaction
going on: a few yards away, a disguised Bear is covertly trying to
sell a golden chalice to a flea market dealer. Both Rose and Blanche
immediately remember the missing vessels of the murdered priest.
Episode
Six: The Hidden Gold
The
night of the prom, Rose goes out with her date, Rob, while Blanche
remains dismally at home. When Bear unexpectedly shows up on their
doorstep after the girls' mom has left for the night shift, Blanche
is wary. Bear, sensing her sadness, offers to take her to the senior
prom.
Episode
Seven: The Unlikely Cinderellas
Warning:
Oblique references to sexual situations. Parental discretion advised.
At the prom, Bear and Blanche are surrounded by the odd glances of
classmates and the unwelcome attentions of the school drug crowd.
Blanche is forced to decide whether or not Bear is the criminal derelict
that everyone - even the school principal - thinks he is. Meanwhile,
Rose finds herself alone with Rob, who has carefully planned to get
her alone in order to take advantage of her. Rose finds herself trapped
and has to use her wits to get out of the situation.
Episode
Eight: The Awakening
Bear and Blanche leave the prom only to find themselves facing a group
of Blanche's classmates who are looking for trouble. In the ensuing
fight in the schoolyard, Blanche faints, and, some time later, wakes
up in a beautiful apartment atop a New York skyscraper. It is still
late at night and she can hear voices downstairs. Bear and Fish are
having an anxious conference about a new development that has changed
their plans. They are using this apartment for an emergency sanctuary,
but Fish warns Bear that he should never see Blanche's family again:
the brothers' lives are even more in danger. Once again, Blanche has
to make a choice.
Episode
Nine: The Enchanted
Bear has vanished, and Rose and Blanche are left with a mystery. At
school, they meet Mr. Freet again, and Rose gets into a fistfight
to defend her sister's - and Bear's - reputations. The principal warns
them to stay away from Bear, who was arrested years ago at their high
school for drug possesion. Rose confronts her would-be seducer, Rob.
And Blanche finds that the elderly nun who teaches her English knew
Bear, and has more than a few pieces of information about him that
shed light on his mystery.
Episode
Ten: The Cave of the Dwarf
Bear and his brother are working hard to salvage their undercover
operation when disaster strikes: Bear is arrested on suspicion, and
without his protection, his younger brother Fish is kidnapped. Meanwhile,
the sisters research the school yearbooks and old classmates for information
about Bear and Fish, only to be warned that the danger is deeper than
they expected.
Episode
Eleven: Into the Night
A stranger invites Rob and his friends to find out information about
Bear in exchange for money. After the last school day of the year,
they track down Blanche and interrogate her. When she refuses to betray
Bear, she finds herself in more trouble. Meanwhile Rose overhears
Mr. Freet and the school principal talking over a golden chalice that
Mr. Freet has just "acquired." On a hunch, she follows Mr.
Freet home, to a horrible discovery that puts her into a moral quandary.
Episode
Twelve: The Sky Grows Darker Yet
Although weak in the face of threats, Blanche uses her wits to escape
her enemies, while Rose summons her bravery to battle the evil she
has discovered. Both brothers and both sisters are drawn into deeper
danger by their convictions in an attempt to save each others' lives,
despite the fact that they stand little chance of success. As Bear
reminds Blanche at a crucial moment, "the men signed with the cross
of Christ go gaily in the dark."
Episode
Thirteen: The Roses Bloom
In this final episode, events rush to an electrifying climax as Blanche
tries to find strength in her weakness, and Rose's valiant spirit
endures a gruesome trial. In the end, the figurative "enchantment"
that Mr. Freet has held over the two brothers is broken, and all can
go free. Blanche reflects that the trial has paradoxically increased
her faith in the meaning behind the universe, as well as giving her
a deeper trust in Bear. It is clear that a new adventure – together
- is beginning for them both.
