Plot

Adele leaves her small town for NYC while Sara stays behind. As they navigate separate lives and new relationships for the first time, musical sequences highlight their emotional journeys.

Leaving small-town life in her dust, Adele moves wide-eyed to New York City, and her best friend Sara is stuck in their boring hometown. Separate for the first time in their lives, the film charts their new relationships, while beautiful background music sequences capture fleeting emotions as their lives move in unexpected directions. "Not Waving But Drowning" opens with the short film, "The Most Girl Part of You."—N. Emanuele

Not Waving But Drowning is a chronological look at growing up, formed from two different stories. The first is based on the short story The Most Girl Part of You by the acclaimed American author, Amy Hempel. In the days after his mother commits suicide, Big Guy and his best friend, Amy, begin to see each other in new ways. Dark yet sweet, the story brings rushing back the excitement of those moments when you know childhood is gone and your real life is just about to begin.

The second story is less about growing up and more about growing out. Growing out of old friendships, growing out of your skin and growing out of who you thought you wanted to be.

Adele is dying to escape Bartow, FL. Driven by the promise of excitement, she moves to New York, leaving behind her best friend, Sara. Wanting to take up space in the city of her dreams, but not knowing how, she finds herself racing in all the wrong directions. Ultimately, she makes an unlikely friendship at her new job that leaves her wondering if she knows what she wants at all.

Phone conversations chart their summer apart, Sara is stuck at home with her depressed father, while her best friend lives a seemingly glamorous new life. As the summer progresses she becomes strangely liberated by the absence of Adele. Working at a local retirement home, Sylvia, an elderly vixen, takes interest in her and she discovers new life in her old town.

The prologue and feature are connected by the characters common discovery of the American Dilemma: the tear between longing for the past and the desire to explore.