After narrowly surviving a senseless act of violence, an idealistic teacher turned cop faces the fallout from that event during her nightmarish first week on the force that culminates in a showdown with those responsible for her pain.

SYNOPSIS:

Similar to films such as “Crash” and “End of Watch,” “Ripples” follows Rachel Townes, an idealistic, and somewhat sheltered school teacher. “Ripples” explores how others’ actions, no matter how long ago, can have lasting effects on us and demonstrates how our responses to these ripples cause ripples in others’ lives, too.

One routine day, Rachel is caught in the middle of a race-related act of violence that claims the life of her sister and almost claims Rachel’s life, too. This event motivates Rachel to pursue law enforcement for three reasons: to catch those responsible, not become a victim again and prove that women belong in the field as well.

After successfully completing the police academy, Rachel is sworn in as a Dallas police officer and is assigned to Jacob Carpenter, her field training officer. Before her first watch, Rachel and Noah, her husband who’s a writer at the local paper, are understandably nervous. Noah’s angst comes out while Rachel is preparing for the first night in her new career path. “We’re not gonna see each other.” “This is gonna take a huge toll on you.” “This job is so dangerous.” Rachel assures him all will be okay and against Noah’s wishes, Rachel walks out the front door, into the depths of uncertainty.

During Rachel’s first night on watch, she encounters a suicide, marking the first instance of the fallout from the shooting. As the week progresses, Rachel encounters more and more of the ripples from the event that turned her life upside down, including a violent encounter with the same gang responsible for that shooting. As Rachel’s morale and faith continue to dissipate, her obsession in catching those responsible for her pain grows and grows. This puts a huge strain on her marriage and causes Noah to become more and more upset with Rachel, creating a rift between them.

Rachel reaches her breaking point. After encountering a grisly car accident in which a child was orphaned, Rachel leaves her badge on the dashboard of the patrol car and walks away, with Jacob screaming at her to come back. Later that day, Rachel visits a park and has a supernatural encounter with a total stranger. The stranger reassures Rachel she is on the right path and she’s doing the right thing.

Following her odd encounter, Rachel comes home and finds her badge propped against her front door, an encouraging note attached to it. Noah and Rachel make amends to each other and with her new outlook on life, Rachel decides to return to her new career.

Jacob is glad to have Rachel back and tells her things will start to look up. Nearing the end of their watch during Rachel’s first week, the same gang responsible for the school shooting, including the one who took Rachel’s sister’s life, ram their car into Rachel and Jacob’s squad car, pinning them inside. A violent shootout occurs between Rachel, Jacob and the gang, with Jacob catching rounds in the chest. Rachel moves him to a drainage ditch and must fight for her life and ends up killing all three gang members, finally ending the wave that started so long ago.

Fast forward a few years and Rachel is a training officer herself, with a family and in the same career that tested her beyond her wildest dreams.