Log Line

After being diagnosed with a fatal disease, a shy, 29-year-old woman living in 1920s rural Canada, defies her overbearing family, and proposes marriage to the handsome town outcast.

One-Page Treatment

On her 29th birthday Valancy Stirling dreads attending another family picnic to celebrate the anniversary of her aunt and uncle’s engagement. Her extended family barely note her birthday other than to tease her about becoming an old maid. She struggles to walk home from the party due to a sharp pain in her chest. Barney Snaith, the handsome town outcast, stops to help. Valancy refuses his kind offer knowing her prejudiced family disapproves of him.

After another painful heart spasm, Valancy decides to see a doctor but doesn’t tell her controlling relatives. They would make a fuss and force her to consume their favorite Dr. Redfern cure-all pills. Her appointment is cut short when the doctor receives an urgent call. A week later she opens a letter with a grim diagnosis–she has less than a year to live. 

Desperate to live a little before she dies, Valancy begins to assert her independence. She reads her favorite John Foster books whenever she wants, and openly reprimands her relatives at the next family dinner. She shocks the Stirling Clan when she agrees to become housekeeper for the town “drunk” Roaring Abel, and care for his dying daughter, Cissy. An unconventional choice because Cissy is also a single, unwed mother, a source of shame in 1920s rural Canada.

At Roaring Abel’s, Valancy enjoys new-found freedom, including earning a wage for the first time, and dressing however she likes. She also sees much more of Barney and begins to admire the thoughtful misfit. After Cissy’s death, Valancy’s family concedes that taking care of the dying woman may have been a good deed, but they beg her to come home. Instead, she surprises everyone when she proposes to Barney. He admits that he might not love her, but still agrees to marry her, after hearing about her fatal diagnosis.

 The couple live in Barney’s blue cottage on an island. To Valancy this little hut is as beautiful as the blue castle she would escape to in her daydreams. Barney and Valancy have a glorious summer. One night returning from a party Valancy is nearly killed by a train. She returns to the doctor to get more information about her illness, only to learn he sent the wrong letter. She is in perfect health. Back at their cottage, Barney is not home. Instead, she meets his father, the famous Dr. Redfern of Redfern cure-all pills. Valancy had no idea Barney came from wealth. Not wanting to trap him in a marriage he didn’t ask for, she packs her bags. While looking for a pen to write him a note goodbye, she makes another discovery: Barney is John Foster, her favorite nature writer.

Valancy returns to her mother’s home to tell her family that she is getting a divorce— also, that Barney is actually Dr. Redfern’s son. Upon finding that Valancy snatched a millionaire, the Stirlings suddenly forget all the rumors they invented about her husband. Valancy tells her mom that though she is sad to leave Barney, she has learned from her time with him and will no longer let life pass her by. Barney turns up demanding to see his wife. He explains that the train incident made him realize he loved Valancy and cannot live without her. He is thrilled to learn that she’s healthy. They both look forward to a long life together.

Why now?

This beloved book by the author of Anne of Green Gables has never been made into a movie. The Blue Castle is a heartwarming comedy with a diverse cast and a strong feminist heroine.