In an
opening narration, Mulder describes the bodies being
uncovered from the shallow graves, one by one. Are they
still dreaming the dreams of children or was their innocence
taken along with their lives? We see a scene of children
getting up from their graves and forming a ghostly circle,
as the narration describes them waiting in the starlight to
be born again at God's behest.
Mulder
and Scully are at the technical services room of the
Sacramento police department. Scruloff was 19 when he
committed his first murder, the first time he was asked to
portray Santa Claus. He has admitted to 24 murders but he
refuses to take blame for Amber Lynn. Her body was not found
in the graves. Hard as it is, Mulder wanted one of the
graves to be Samantha. Harold Piller comes to see the
agents. He is a psychic who has gotten some strong "hits"
from this case - about Amber Lynn. He has worked with police
around the world and has seen children's bodies in previous
incidents transported away from an accident scene by
walk-ins. Scully doesn't want to involve Piller because
Mulder is vulnerable right now. Scully goes back to
Washington because she feels she can't do anymore in
California. Mulder takes Piller to the grave site. Piller's
son disappeared under strange circumstances, then one day he
started to see visions of him. Piller believes that the
walkiins are good spirits, saving the children from some
fate about to happen. They transform matter into energy -
starlight. But Piller senses that Scruloff's victims all
died suffering. Amber Lynn wasn't here, Piller says, but he
senses a connection between her and Mulder. Piller knows
about Samantha - what is the connection between Samantha and
Amber Lynn?
Scully
and an FBI expert watch a videotape of Mulder's June 16,
1989 hypnotic regression, telling the story of Samantha's
disappearance. The expert doubts Mulder's story because it
seems to be typical guilt fantasies. Mulder's delusion is
playing into his unconscious hope that his sister is still
alive. There was a huge search for Samantha in 1973. Even
the Treasury Department was involved. The expert advises
Scully to leave it be, because Mulder's wound may be too
painful to reopen, but Scully feels she owes it to Mulder.
Late at night, Mulder is watching Planet of the Apes when
Piller knocks at his motel door. In a trance Piller says
Mulder's mother is present and we see a ghostly image of
Mrs. Mulder in the room. Piller says she wants to tell about
Samantha, but then he "loses" her. They then find the words
"April Base" written on a paper pad.
Scully
visits Mrs. Mulder's home and searches. In the wastepaper
basket where pictures were burned she finds part of a
document. Scully phones Mulder to tell him that the document
scrap matches a document in Samantha's Treasury
investigation file. It is a copy of the document signed with
the initials CGBS calling off the investigation. Both agents
recognize the initials as belonging to the Cigarette Smoking
Man and Scully is astounded when Mulder doesn't want to
press the Smoking Man on the issue. Mulder is pursuing the
matter in his own way. He and Piller arrive at the
decommissioned April Air Force Base, where Piller senses
something. A security guard drives up and tells them to move
along. Meanwhile, Scully arrives home to find the Smoking
Man waiting for her. He seems not well and he mentions
having had an operation. He wants her to stop looking. He
admits to signing the order because he believed Samantha was
dead. He didn't tell Mulder for so long because there was so
much to protect before that is all gone now. He leaves,
sadly.
Mulder
and Piller return to the base at night and climb the fence.
In a residential area, Piller senses that Samantha was
present. They hide as a police car drives by, then Mulder
finds the name Samantha and a handprint in the cement of a
sidewalk of a home. Beside it is another handprint and the
name Jeffrey, a reference to Jeffrey Spender, the Smoking
Man's son. Later, Scully arrives back in California. Mulder
doesn't believe what the Smoking Man said because of the
handprint. Scully thinks Piller was just leading Mulder
along. The agents go and confront Piller -- he is the
subject of a criminal investigation into the disappearance
of his son and he has a history of mental problems, which he
claims he has under control. He makes a compelling case that
he is no different from Mulder and just wants to find his
son. All three sneak back into the base and enter the house
where Samantha apparently lived. It has been vacant for a
long time. Piller asks them to hold hands so he can try to
summon the spirits of the residents. We see ghostly visions
of many people. One boy takes Mulder by the hand and leads
him down the hall. Scully and Piller realize Mulder is
missing and find him in another room. Mulder finds a diary
that is apparently Samantha's. They read it in a restaurant.
It is dated 1979, when Samantha would have been 14. It
describes tests. Samantha lies and tells "them" what they
want to hear because she hates them. She suspects her
memories were taken by the doctors. She vaguely remembers a
brother and she hopes he someday reads the diary. In the
final entry she talks about running away. Outside the
restaurant, Mulder looks up at the stars and says maybe the
starlight really is made up of old souls, because there is
nothing as ancient as the universe. Later, as Mulder sleeps,
his mother appears in his room and speaks to him, but we
can't hear what she says.
Scully
finds a 1979 police report with a description matching
Samantha. They visit a hospital to read reports of a "Jane
Doe" admitted. Her mental state exhibited signs of paranoia
and there were marks, possibly from the tests. Mulder is
convinced that the Smoking Man knew about this. The agents
and Piller go to visit the emergency room nurse who signed
Samantha in. Outside the house, Mulder has the feeling that
this is the end of the road, that he has been brought here
to learn the truth. He waits outside as Scully and Piller to
go the door and talk to the woman, named Arbutus Ray. She
remembers the pretty young girl. She had a vision of the
girl dead, but nobody believed her, then she blinked and the
vision was gone and the girl was sleeping safely. There were
men who came to pick her up. One appeared to be her father
and as she describes him it is clear that he was the Smoking
Man. When the men went to Samantha's locked room, she had
vanished. Scully turns and finds that Mulder is no longer
waiting by the car. The same spirit boy, Piller's son, leads
Mulder to a field where other spirit children play. The
lighting of the scene looks as if they might be made of
starlight. Amber Lynn is there, as is Samantha who runs up
and hugs Mulder. Mulder returns to Scully and Piller. It is
the end of the road and they are all dead, he says, with
conviction. Piller sees so much but he refuses to see his
son. They are all at a better place, Mulder says, but Piller
refuses to believe. Scully asks Mulder if he is OK. He
replies, "I'm fine - free," and looks up at the stars as the
episode ends.