Lydia is dead. But they don't know it yet. It's half past six in the morning on May 3, 1977, and no one knows anything except this innocuous fact: Lydia is late for breakfast... Thus begins (and ends) the story of yet another Laura Palmer - a family story of false hopes and silence.
Marilyn is an ambitious girl from the American South who dreams of becoming a doctor in an age when a woman is expected to have more of an aptitude for housekeeping than a professional career; she dreams of being special in a world where her role is predetermined. James is a descendant of Chinese immigrants who came to the United States semi-legally, and has been special by birth his whole life. He dreams of being like everyone else, of blending in, of stopping standing out. These two love each other, seeing their dreams reflected in each other. But dreams fade, life takes its toll, and so the parents appoint the eldest daughter responsible for making the unfulfilled come true. With the best of intentions, of course. Both hope that their daughter will achieve what they never achieved: her mother wants professional fulfillment and recognition, her father – love and popularity among her peers. And the little traumatized girl Lydia, day after day, struggles to fulfill her parents' unfulfilled plans – because little children love their parents, can't help but love them, want their parents to be happy, and can't say 'no.' Lydia diligently crams physics and biology, harboring no interest in the natural sciences because her mother never became a doctor, but dreams of her daughter becoming one. Lydia goes to dances and movies alone, pretending to have fun with friends, because her father has never made friends, but dreams of his daughter being the life of the party.
'Everything I Never Said' is a story about a white lie that never stops being a lie. About how traumatized parents unwittingly traumatize their children. About what parents are capable of doing with their children out of love and the best of intentions. And, finally, about how sometimes silence kills.
