Synopsis:

As a child in southern Utah, Mary witnessed the historic first human mission to Mars. The rocket’s launch sparked a singular obsession: to one day make that journey herself. Decades later, she’s still chasing that dream—now working at Concordia Planetary Research, the private company leading Mars exploration. She hosts their flagship science podcast, watching every launch from the ground, always just out of reach.

After another rejection from Concordia’s Extra Seat Fellowship, Mary finds hope in a conversation with Mark, the company’s head of recruitment. A new partnership with Japan’s space agency has shifted the selection criteria. If she can finish her PhD, improve her fitness, and learn Japanese, she might finally qualify.

Mary restructures her life. She runs, studies, works, and trains nonstop. Her wife, Ami, quietly begins to feel the emotional distance grow. Their once-connected relationship becomes a lopsided equation: Mary has the dream; Ami holds everything else together.

Seven years pass. Mary earns her PhD, qualifies for the final round—and is passed over in favor of Alejandra Martel, the teenage prodigy she once interviewed. Asked to train Alejandra, Mary agrees. She goes home to plan her next attempt—until Ami reminds her what they’ve put on hold: children, connection, time. Mary insists she can still have it all. Ami isn’t asking her to quit—but she can’t keep living a life built around someone else’s dream.

A World Away explores the cost of ambition—the life deferred, the relationships strained, and the identity built entirely around a single goal.