New Brooms

Thomas Bates Jr. is the quintessential privileged son, a young man who views his father’s successful broom factory not as a legacy, but as a relic of inefficient, 'old-fashioned' thinking. After one too many lectures on fiscal responsibility and the weight of monthly bills, the elder Bates makes a radical proposal: a total role reversal. Tom is handed the keys to the factory and the household for one year, tasked with proving his modern methods can outperform his father’s 'grouchy' pragmatism. Into this experiment enters Geraldine Marsh, a family friend forced by tragedy into the role of housekeeper. As Tom navigates the crushing reality of management and a dissolving engagement to the social-climbing Florence Levering, he finds himself falling for Geraldine. However, a toxic cocktail of pride and misunderstanding leads Tom to believe Geraldine is actually in love with his father. The film follows Tom’s slow-motion collision with reality as his arrogance crumbles under the weight of the very bills he once mocked.