For most children, Christmas Eve is a time for revelry, presents and, maybe, church. But in a newly blended family, the holidays can trigger unpleasant new traditions and uncover brewing resentment. "Markers" is the story of Mandy, 10, and her Christmas Eve search for her missing best friend: a Golden Retriever named Brice. The search ends abruptly, however, when her half-brother Max, 12, gleefully informs her that Brice is in fact dead. The film explores the complicated relationship between a boy forced to live with his dad's new family after his mother's death, and his favored half-sister, the oblivious symbol of his pain and target of his torment.
—Cory Terry