A MEDICAL MURDER MYSTERY & COURTROOM DRAMA
FROM
AWAY
An outsider accused of murder. A town convinced of his guilt.
A story that exposes human frailties, the complexities of life, and a trial that challenges what we believe about addiction.
Based on the novel, Addiction on Trial: Tragedy in Downeast Maine, by Dr. Steven Kassels.
In West Haven Harbor, being “from away” means you don’t belong.
THE STORY
When Annette Fiorno is found dead, there is immediate suspicion of Jimmy Sedgwick.
Sedgwick, who relapsed into drug use, is best friends with Annette’s fiancé, Travis Bomer.
To the tight-knit island community, the case seems simple:
Jimmy is the outsider, the addict, the guy “from away.”
But as prominent Boston attorney Shawn Marks takes on Jimmy’s defense, assumptions begin to unravel.
Who is to trust?
West Haven Harbor
A community in divide.
Set in the fictional Downeast Maine town of West Haven Harbor on the real Mount Desert Island, From Away unfolds in a place where beauty and isolation exist side by side—and where the distinction between the virtue of a local, and someone “from away,” gets blurred.
Drugs have reached this island, just as they have in other communities across America.
When addiction, death, and assumptions collide, insularity and loyalty complicate the uncovering of the truth.
Characters at the center of the story:
The Accused.
A recovering addict whose relapse after returning to Maine places him at the center of a murder investigation.
JIMMY SEDGWICK
The Boyfriend.
A scallop fisherman struggling with heroin addiction, yet a man capable of extraordinary courage at sea.
TRAVIS BOMER
The Victim.
A well-liked Maine transplant struggling with cocaine addiction whose death sets the story in motion.
ANNETTE FIORNO
The Prosecuting Attorney.
A confident, formidable district attorney charged with proving Jimmy's guilt.
VENLA HUJANEN
The Local Defense Attorney.
A local attorney, with a sometimes clumsy approach, forms an unlikely defense team alongside Shawn Marks.
ROB HANSTON
The Defense Attorney.
A prominent yet philandering Boston attorney whose arrival in West Haven Harbor makes him as much an outsider as his client.
SHAWN MARKS
The Father.
Jimmy's physician father, carrying decades of guilt while standing beside his son through the trial.
ADAM SEDGWICK
The TV News Reporter.
An extremely creative correspondent who attracts and intrigues Shawn Marks, while flustering the Boston attorney.
SALLY JENKINS
From Novel to Screenplay
A story grounded in expertise.
From Away is adapted from Dr. Steven Kassels' novel, Addiction on Trial: Tragedy in Downeast Maine.
The story draws upon Kassels' decades of experience in Emergency Medicine and Addiction Medicine, as well as his work as an expert witness in drug-related criminal trials.
Rather than write a clinical book about addiction, Kassels turned to fiction—using the suspense and momentum of a murder mystery to explore the realities of addiction through story.
Now, screenwriter Joe Raffa, working with Kassels, has adapted that story for the screen.
Learn more about the screenplay >