The pilot of the new drama channel NVO "Abandoned" was released at the end of June 2014. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta, Academy Award nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay. Among the creators of the series are screenwriters and directors of the cult "Lost" and "Ambulance".
On a fall day, two percent of the world's population disappears without a trace. Scientists and representatives of official religions cannot explain the nature of what happened. Entire families disappeared, every person on the planet lost loved ones, friends or acquaintances.
Three years later, the world still did not recover from the shock. The usual course of things has been disrupted, people have lost faith in the former strongholds of security, structure and power - politics, religion and science, mass suicides are taking place. Human society is gradually plunged into nihilism and anarchy. Various sects, promising consolation and deliverance from grief, are gaining more and more influence.
The city of Mapleton is growing community of "Guilty". They believe that the event that occurred three years ago was the Ascension, which means that those who remained were not among the elect. According to the scriptures, they are unworthy, guilty. Members of the “Guilty” abandon their natural human feelings and abandon their families. They wear white clothes, keep a vow of silence and smoke constantly, because, in their opinion, the smoke rising up symbolizes the ascension of the soul.
Unlike another local sect, led by a certain Wayne, who proclaimed himself a healer, and settled outside the city, the "Guilty" do not hide and do not shy from social life. On the contrary, they actively come into contact with Mapleton’s inhabitants, identify and persecute those who are especially suffering after the disappearance of loved ones, persistently inviting them to join. They also sabotage the efforts of the townspeople to return to normal life and reconcile themselves to losses. No one fully understands what exactly the "Guilty" are seeking, what people are calling for. Misunderstanding gives rise to fear, provocation - aggression, and the peaceful "Heroes Day" turns into a bloody clash.
One of those who oppose the Guilty community is the city church’s pastor, Matt Jamison. He denies that the disappearance of part of the world's population was the predicted Ascension, and seeks to convince the inhabitants of the city. But people have lost faith, and Jamison alone is trying to fight universal despair and a sense of hopelessness. His sister lost her whole family, husband and two children, his wife was paralyzed after a car accident on the day of disappearance, and the “Guilty”, taking advantage of the financial difficulties of a priest who had lost his flock, bought out the church building through third-party organizations.
Mapleton’s sheriff, Kevin Garvey, is under a duty to control what is happening in the city and to restrain the spread of the influence of the Guilty. The difficulty lies in the fact that his wife Lori joined the ranks of the "Guilty". Garvey can not understand her motives, because their family did not lose anyone on the day of disappearance, and can not accept her decision. Their eldest son Tom also left home and became a follower of Wayne, daughter Jill, experiencing the loss of her mother, became hardened and moved away from her father. Her friend Amy is the only one with whom the sheriff has a certain semblance of normal relations and mutual understanding.
“Abandoned” is a story about everyone’s common misfortune and personal drama, revealing the themes of grief and faith, humility and resistance, compassion and cruelty.
