To Die (Or Not) 2000

In the fictional town of Little Hope, New Hampshire, Suzanne Stone is a glamorous and ambitious young woman who is obsessed with television and dreams of becoming a world-famous broadcast journalist. She enters a passionate romance with Larry Maretto, an Italian American, and the two marry quickly. Larry Maretto, Francesc Orella, a man whose family disapproves of the union, promises to support her career ambitions and helps with his family’s restaurant to keep her financially secure. Suzanne works her way up at WWEN, a local cable station, and after persistent effort she earns a place on the station’s evening weather segment, a small but significant victory on her road to stardom.

As her star begins to rise, Suzanne uses her platform to pursue a larger project: a documentary titled “Teens Speak Out.” At the high school, she manages to draw in two troubled teens, Jimmy Emmett and Russell Hines, and she befriends Lydia Mertz, a shy girl who looks up to Suzanne’s worldliness. Back at home, Larry grows weary of the grind and urges Suzanne to retire from the grind of television to help at the restaurant and start a family. Suzanne sees this as a threat to her carefully constructed plan for fame, and she quietly begins plotting to remove him from the picture. She coldly seduces Jimmy and convinces him to murder Larry by accusing him of abusing her, while promising a bright future in California once he’s dead. She also manipulates Lydia into obtaining a gun, laying the groundwork for the fateful night.

One evening, while Suzanne is delivering the weather forecast, Jimmy and Russell carry out the break-in at the Marettos’ condo, and Jimmy shoots Larry. The case is initially ruled a botched burglary, but the investigation takes an unexpected turn when police stumble upon a clip from the Teens Speak Out program that reveals Suzanne’s sexual involvement with Jimmy. Lydia makes a deal with the authorities to speak with Suzanne while wearing a wire, and Suzanne’s admissions reveal her role in the murder. Yet she manages to cast doubt on the police, arguing that they entrapped her, and she is released on bail. The charges against her are eventually dropped, and she seizes the moment to craft a new narrative for herself.

With the media spotlight now firmly on her, Suzanne fabricates a sensational story in which Larry was a cocaine addict who was murdered by Jimmy and Russell, his supposed dealers. Jimmy and Russell receive life sentences, Russell’s term is later reduced, and Lydia is released on probation. Meanwhile, Larry’s father Joe, convinced of Suzanne’s guilt, calls on his mafia connections to resolve the matter in the most permanent way. A hitman, Sergi López, posing as a movie studio executive, lures Suzanne away from home and kills her, burying her body beneath a frozen lake.

The aftermath unfolds in a public, televised reckoning as Lydia shares her side of the story in a nationally televised interview, turning her into a notoriety-fueled figure. Larry’s sister Janice, who has always harbored resentment toward Suzanne, becomes a quiet witness as she practices her figure skating on the frozen lake where Suzanne’s body lies, leaving a chilling echo to the saga that captivated a nation.