PINEY: THE LONESOME PINE - THE MOVIE

Logline

A cheerful Welsh girl grows a talking pine named PINEY to be her Christmas tree, but when he’s accidentally removed from her grandfather’s Christmas tree farm, the plucky family dog leads him on a journey across the countryside while the girl and her grandpa frantically search to get them home before Christmas. Piney’s unexpected journey is filled with love, hope and inspiration.

Synopsis

A cheerful and optimistic five-year-old Welsh girl named GEORGIE has just moved to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the North Wales village with the longest name in Europe. As they rumble along in a vintage jalopy to the Tree Farm, her charming GRANDPA SID, teaches her how to pronounce the village name. After a few sips of Christmas Tea and a playful duet punctuated by the rollicking howls of family terrier JACKSTER, they arrive at the snow-blanketed evergreen mountain oasis. Walking past rows of different sized trees, they find a grove of seedlings where Grandpa Sid explains that all trees are unique and special — just like people — and today Georgie gets to pick and plant a seed that will eventually be her very own Christmas tree. While inspecting the options, she’s drawn to a particular seed that appears to have a cute little face. Elated Georgie decides to name him PINEY, carefully planting him under a blanket of earth, sprinkling a few hopeful dashes of Christmas tea (smells like magic!), and protecting him with a scarf so the workers know he belongs to her.

FOUR YEARS LATER, kindhearted nine-year-old Georgie and earnest Piney have become best friends. After all of her careful nurturing, he’s now tall enough to come home with her, expressing his excitement to finally be dressed in baubles and bows as the family Christmas tree. When a blustery squall blows in, Piney insists Georgie protect herself with his scarf, and while she briefly steps away to get some warming tea, Piney is accidentally removed from the farm with a shipment of other trees. In a heroic effort, determined Jackster chases after the truck, eventually reuniting with Piney at a Christmas Tree Lot where nobody picked him, the lonesome tree is surprised to discover the street-wise terrier can also talk!

On a Christmas Eve journey by bus, truck and sled that takes the rambling duo across the gorgeous wintery countryside and through a neighboring town bedecked with the glorious sights and sounds of the season, Piney contemplates his purpose — what does it mean if a Christmas tree doesn’t make it home in time for Christmas? While Jackster’s deft sense of smell keeps them trekking onward amidst waddling Piney’s exhaustion, they are awed by magnificent Giant Evergreens who inspire them to think more broadly about what a tree can be. Meanwhile, Georgie and Grandpa Sid brave the foreboding conditions to search every local tree lot in hopes of finding their friends before Christmas is over.

We are taken along on Piney’s unexpected journey, witnessing his hopes and dreams, fears and disappointments. Upon reaching his final destination, it turns out to be more than he could have ever dreamed.