An average guy who can’t seem to catch a break wakes up one morning to find that everything in his life has changed – it’s perfect -- but if everything is perfect, nothing seems to be, leaving him desperate to find a way back to his less-than-perfect life.

SYNOPSIS:

Copyright: PAu 3-940-995, R.T. Bowersox

GEORGE ARNER is a Joe SixPack kind of guy. He works at Carbonara Construction, and has difficulty standing up for himself. He and his nurse wife, PEG, try to make the family finances work – they need a new car, daughter Susie wants to go to a private school, and son Vince is college bound.

As George walks one night to meet friends PETEY and SAM for poker, he stops a couple of toughs from roughing up an OLD BUM. The Bum offers to return the favor, but George doesn’t see how a bum could help him. He bemoans his life, and wishes for better – like owning his own company, and having money to give his family what they want – that would be perfect. “Okay, so be it,” the Bum says. George heads for home, still grumbling.

Next morning, George’s life is radically changed. His house is now an estate, he finds a MAID in the huge kitchen, Peg is off to her champagne brunch, and Susie comes downstairs in the uniform of the exclusive school. He walks outside to find a new BMW.

At work, George finds he owns “Arner Construction”. He has an office and a secretary, dinner plans with the Mayor, and fifty-yard-line tickets to the Eagles game. George realizes his dream has somehow come true -- life is now perfect.

But being the boss comes with obligations that George is ill-equipped for. He may have good ideas on construction, but not so much with dealing with the Chinese clients and running a business. Problems arise when the Chinese – led by an aggressive young man named ZHANG – want George to cut expenses and lay off a dozen men. George again fails to stand up for himself.

Perfect it now may be, George soon misses his old life. His kids won’t hang out – it’s beneath them now. Peg is always at her charities, but when she and George do go out, Peg doesn’t know anything about the cherished times earlier in their lives.

Zhang confronts George for failing his demands, and fires him and many of his co-workers, including Petey and Sam. Again, George fails to stand up.

George soon realizes that, as the Old Bum warned him, “Perfect ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.” He realizes his old life offered something he no longer had: a challenge, and the hope of overcoming it.

George seeks out the Old Bum, who tells him that there’s good and bad in everything, and it’s up to you which you look at. He’s always had the power to make his life perfect.

The next morning, George wakes up to find himself back in his old house, with his old car, with Peg rushing off to the hospital, and his kids back to their old ways. He goes to the work site, now again Carbonara’s. George confronts Zhang about saving money without laying off the workers, standing up for himself and his friends. Zhang refuses, but an OLDER CHINESE MAN steps forward and asks to hear George’s suggestions…he’s Zhang’s father, and the actual owner of the company.

George lays out his plans, and the Older Man likes them, and declares that George will now head up the construction, and spend the saved money anyway he sees fit…including hiring back his friends.

That night, with Peg, George is smiling and a bit teary. When Peg asks him what’s wrong, he replies, “Not a thing, babe. It’s all perfect.”