The Fifth House on the Left

At the movie studio, Eugene Meltsner pulls Kelsey Smith-Hammer beneath a worktable until the earthquake subsides. Kelsey has scraped her knee but is otherwise safe. Frightened and impatient, she ignores Eugene’s warning about falling glass and runs outside to inspect her car.

At the Smith-Hammer mansion, the power has failed and Tammi has stepped on shattered glass. Her feet are bleeding, and several pieces remain embedded in them. Foster panics, but Bernard takes charge. He lifts Tammi onto a bedspread spread over a glass-free surface, checks that no major vein or artery has been cut, and asks Angela for antiseptic, bandages, and boiled water. He wisely leaves the large glass pieces in place and dresses the wounds around them while Foster checks the house, the telephone, and the gas lines.

To calm Tammi through the pain, Bernard tells her how Jesus once washed His disciples’ dirty feet, doing the work of a servant. Tammi prays for Jesus to help her remain strong. When Foster objects to Bernard speaking about Him again, Bernard refuses to stop unless Foster has better comfort to offer his injured daughter. Faced with Bernard’s practical help and Tammi’s courage, Foster withdraws rather than ordering him out a second time.

Kelsey cares first about the few bricks that have fallen on her car. Then she and Eugene hear a cry for help from the damaged soundstage. Kelsey is terrified of reentering, but Eugene insists that an injured person cannot be abandoned. With a flashlight from her emergency kit, they pick their way through broken glass and collapsed movie sets until Kelsey recognizes director Lance Lincoln’s voice. She resents risking herself for a man she dislikes and complains that genuine concern costs too much in Hollywood.

An aftershock sends Kelsey into a panic. She runs back toward safety, leaving Eugene to continue alone. Eugene eventually finds Lance with a camera pinning his leg. Lance admits that he would never have returned for Eugene under the same circumstances, yet still demands rescue. Eugene silences the insults, makes him help lift the camera, and frees him.

At the mansion, costly high-tech equipment is useless without electricity, while Tammi’s simple battery-powered radio provides news. The earthquake has broken gas and water lines, damaged roads and freeways, started fires, and trapped people throughout the city. Foster’s electric security gate will not open, and the family’s ten-foot wall isolates them from neighbors Foster has never met. Bernard climbs out anyway. Someone nearby may need help, and Tammi must eventually reach a hospital.

A neighbor leads Bernard to a collapsed section of a house where her son may be buried. Bernard joins the search. The rescuers uncover a hand, then discover that a mattress has partly protected the young man beneath the wreckage. He is breathing and moving when they reach him.

Emergency crews finally enter the studio and take charge of Lance. Eugene learns that Kelsey is safe at the studio firehouse. When firefighters are called to a burning apartment building, he chooses to go with them, distributing blankets, carrying a stretcher, and helping the injured through the night. Radio reports urge everyone in the city to check on neighbors and lend a hand - the very kind of connection that Hollywood’s guarded homes and private lives have discouraged.

Near dawn, officials estimate the earthquake at 6.9 and report twenty-seven deaths, countless injuries, collapsed buildings, and fires across the area. Eugene returns to Kelsey, apologizing for judging her life in the middle of a frightening crisis. Kelsey says the artificial world has truly fallen apart: buildings and houses have collapsed like cheap sets, people have died, and her usual concerns suddenly seem hollow. She has spent hours feeling sorry for herself while Eugene and others went out to help. Recognizing her own selfishness is painful, and she warns Eugene not to say anything that might make it easy to change her mind. She simply asks to go home.

Bernard eventually discovers the security gate’s manual release, allowing the family to take Tammi for stitches. When Eugene drives Kelsey home, he nearly hits Bernard’s precious truck by taking the curve too fast. Kelsey embraces her father and asks about him before asking about the mansion - a change Foster immediately notices. She is relieved that Tammi is safe, while Foster proudly tells her how Bernard cared for the child and helped the neighborhood. Kelsey responds by telling him what Eugene has done. Foster is already imagining their night as a television miniseries, but his gratitude toward the two travelers is genuine.

Four days later, Bernard and Eugene prepare to leave. Foster thanks them from his heart and admits that his family might not have managed without either man. Tammi thanks Bernard because her heart will never be the same. Angela is still with the family, and Bernard asks her to watch over Tammi and perhaps help the rest of the household follow the faith that has begun changing the child.

Kelsey thanks Eugene and kisses him goodbye. Her future choices remain her own, but the earthquake has cracked more than Hollywood’s buildings: it has forced her to look beyond possessions, image, and self-protection. Bernard and Eugene finally turn the new truck toward Odyssey. After the glamor, fear, and exhausting rescue work of Los Angeles, both are grateful to be heading toward a home where ordinary life now seems especially precious.