Harvest Moon: The Movie

Harvest Moon (also known as Harvest Moon: The Movie) is an upcoming 2022 Japanese animated film based on the Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons series of video games. The film centers on Pete, a young man who is determined to restore the farm of an old man he befriended as a child. The plot is primarily inspired by Harvest Moon 64 and Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, but takes elements from multiple games in the series.

Plot
An old black and white recording plays during the opening credits, showing Farmer Jack meeting young Peter "Pete" Riverheart (the boy recording with the old camera) when Pete is lost while vacationing in Mineral Town with his family. Noticing Pete's growing interest in the farm animals, Farmer Jack invites the Riverheart family to stay at his house for the duration of their vacation, during which Pete grows to love the countryside, farming life, animals, and even makes friends with a young girl who spends time with him every night on the Moon Mountain, where they sing a traditional Mineral Town lullaby. As the Riverheart family packs their belongings to return to their home in the city, Farmer Jack promises to write to Pete in the future, and the young girl tells Pete that he must return to Mineral Town someday to meet her again.

It is revealed that Pete, now a young man, is watching the recording in his home in the city, reflecting on his memories of Mineral Town as a child. Farmer Jack hasn't written back to Pete in weeks, and Pete is beginning to worry about him. Convincing his now widowed father to take him back to Mineral Town, Pete goes to visit Farmer Jack, and discovers that he has fallen ill and is in the hospital. Upon visiting the hospital, Pete is greeted by nurse Ellen "Elli" Daybrook, daughter of the deceased Daniel Daybrook, who used to own the local bakery, now run by Elli's good friend Jeff Fogbrew. Elli explains to Pete that Farmer Jack is dying, and has been waiting to see Pete one last time. Farmer Jack, happy to see Pete, tells him about how the farm has been going to ruin over the past few months due to his lack of strength from old age. Pete is unable to make out the last of Farmer Jack's words before his last breath, and he mourns his death.

Upon returning to the farm, Pete discovers that Farmer Jack has given it to the Riverheart family in his will. Pete initially wants to return to the city, but, upon discovering that a group of land developers intend to build an amusement park on the property should nobody choose to fix it up, he remembers how much fun he had on the farm as a child and decides to stay in Mineral Town to work on the farm. His father (still upset over the death of his wife three years prior) is skeptical of the idea, but eventually gives in and tells Pete that he can keep the farm if he manages to get it running smoothly in two years. He promises to return at the end of the third Spring to check up on the farm, and then departs for the city across the sea.

Over the following few months of Spring, Pete struggles to get the farm's fields cleared of weeds and plant crops. He seeks advice from Douglas "Doug" Green, a local blacksmith who owns another farm in Mineral Town. Doug doesn't believe that Pete is old enough to run a farm, and his son Gray remains skeptical of him. His tomboyish daughter Ann however takes an immediate liking to Pete after seeing him bond with a pony named Lucky, and gives him some advice on how to restore the farm. She also gives him Lucky as his first animal.

Taking Ann's advice, Pete buys seeds for crops from Lillia Flowerbud, the owner of the flower shop, where he meets her daughter Popuri, who he soon develops a crush on. Wanting to impress her, he fills a large portion of his field with flowers, but is criticized by the Green family for wasting space that could have been used for crops.

Jeff's uncle, Duke Fogbrew, the bartender at the local bar, soon befriends Pete and gifts him with a bottle of Doorway to Heaven wine, which was made many years ago by the old owner of the Forestgaze Vineyard. Karen Forestgaze, a descendant of the man who made the wine, works at the bar as a waitress, and, despite her obsessive consumption of alcohol, is well-known by the men of Mineral Town for her good looks and her talent for dancing. Pete pays the vineyard a visit, but discovers that it has been going to ruin for quite few years, and may be closing soon if it can't be restored. Gotz, Karen's father, is a terrible alcoholic, and is very abusive toward Karen and his wife Sasha. Pete, despite Gotz hatred of him and Karen's overall dislike of him, is convinced by vineyard employee Kai Williams (who has a crush on Karen) to help to restore the vineyard, and takes time out of his day every day to help out there. On one of his visits, Pete encounters Karen in the wine cellar and is surprised when Gotz arrives home drunk and locks Karen in (not realizing that Pete is in there as well). Karen begins to cry, and reveals that Gotz used to lock her in the cellar as a child whenever he was drunk, and that sometimes she would be trapped in there all night. Pete recalls a memory of accidentally being locked in the cellar by Gotz long ago in a visit to the vineyard as a child, and realizes that Gotz must have thought from the noises in the cellar that he was Karen. Remembering how escaped at the time, he reveals to Karen a hole in the wall behind the wine barrels, and Karen begins to accept Pete as a good friend.

In late June, the Festival of the Harvest Goddess is held, where the villagers must vote for a "Harvest Goddess" to dance with that year's king (the local medicine man). Pete realizes that if Popuri wins the election, he won't be able to dance with her as she will be dancing with the king. He confides in the medicine man's two young elementary-aged grandchildren, Kent and Stu, that he wishes for Elli to win the election that year (having made friends with her and having heard about her wishes to be the Goddess someday). Kent and Stu decide to pull a prank and rig the election so that Elli wins, which allows Pete to dance with Popuri. However, Elli, knowing of Kent and Stu's prankster ways, suspiciously confronts them after the festival and discovers what Pete told them. This causes her to believe that Pete likes her, and she begins visiting him more often, though Pete remains oblivious to her flirting.

In the middle of Summer, Pete discovers a music box that he buried at the farm during his visit there as a kid, and brings it to Ann's cousin Rick, the owner of the local tool shop, for fixing. Pete tells Rick that the music box plays a lullaby that he remembers hearing from his first visit to Mineral Town as a kid (which turns out to be the same lullaby that he and the young girl sang on Moon Mountain), and that he intends to give it to a girl he likes. Elli visits the shop as Pete is leaving, and Rick tells her about the music box, which causes her to believe that Pete will be giving the box to her, but is upset to discover later that he has given it to Popuri instead. Saddened, she begins visiting him less.

During the remainder of the Summer, Pete, Karen, and Kai work hard at the vineyard, but soon discover that nothing is helping. Karen, in a moment of sadness that the vineyard may die, expresses her wishes to move to the city and become a dancer. Kai, not wanting Karen to leave, finally expresses his true feelings for her, but Karen gets angry and tells him that she doesn't return those feelings and only thinks of him as a friend. Desperate, Pete seeks the advice of the mayor's daughter Maria, a nerdy girl who has a small crush on him. She tells him the secret of the pond at the base of Moon Mountain, where one can meet the Harvest Goddess in person if they throw one of their crops into the pond. Pete takes this advice and throws his best crop into the pond, and discovers that the information was true. The Harvest Goddess assures Pete that the vineyard will be restored before the year is over if he, Karen, and Kai work very hard on it, which gives Pete the confidence to convince Karen and Kai through a moving speech that they will get the vineyard restored.

As promised, the hard work pays off, and the vineyard begins to yield grapes better than any that have grown there for years. Karen and Kai begin to go on dates with each other, and Pete gives many of his flowers to Popuri throughout the Autumn season, knowing that many of them won't grow during the Winter.

When Winter hits, Pete realizes that he will need to build extensions to his house in order to make a living, and has a greenhouse and a kitchen built by the local carpenters. In mid-November, Pete buys a blue feather from Rick's shop, which he intends to propose to Popuri with as it is the Mineral Town tradition, but discovers that Popuri isn't home. The next day, he brings the blue feather into the village and hears news that Elli's dear grandmother Ellen Wellington has died of old age. Knowing of the pain Elli must be feeling from her last living relative passing away, he immediately goes to visit her. A tearful Elli is happy to see Pete, and it is revealed via their conversation with each other that Elli is the young girl that Pete made friends with as a kid. Realizing that Elli is his one true love, Pete proposes to her with the feather instead of Popuri, and they are married the following Sunday.

Over the following Spring, Elli assists Pete in taking care of the farm animals (many of them bought from the Green farm) while Pete takes care of the garden. Pete also enters Lucky into the local horse race and wins, much to the delight of Doug and Gray (who have begun to warm up to Pete). Kai proposes to Karen and invites Pete to their wedding, and Karen decides to stay in Mineral Town.

Meanwhile, Elli reveals to Pete that she has become pregnant, much to Pete's joy. Pete hires the carpenters to build a baby bed, and also wins the prize allowing him to become king for the next Harvest Goddess festival. Kent and Stu rig the election again so that Elli can become the Goddess, but neither Pete nor Elli mind much this time. Elli gives birth to a baby boy in August, and Pete names him Jack after his old friend.

In Winter, Maria is married to Harris, the mailman, while Gray begins dating Popuri. Pete begins to believe that his life is going on the right track, but in early Spring, a hurricane rips through Mineral town and destroys his field and greenhouse. Pete believes that he will lose the farm for sure, since his father is set to return at the end of the season, but Elli reassures him, and a large amount of the villagers (including Gotz, who is trying to recover from his alcohol addiction) assist him in fixing up the place. Gray and Popuri are married, and Ann begins dating a bird-watcher named Cliff.

At the end of Spring, Pete's father arrives to evaluate the farm. Since a large amount of the hurricane damage still remains, he tells Pete that the farm is still unsuitable, and that he will have to return to the city and allow the land developers to purchase the property. But Pete's friends from the village arrive and stand up for him, citing many of the wonderful things he has done for Mineral Town. Pete realizes that he's had a bigger impact on the town than he originally thought, and his father at last mellows down and allows Pete to keep the farm. On the shore, Pete's father tells him that his mother would be proud of him, and they share a tearful hug before Pete's father sails away to the city. Pete and Elli climb up Moon Mountain the watch the sunset, and Pete tells Elli that he believes that Farmer Jack's unintelligible final words to him were his wishes to restore the farm to its former glory. He also tells her that, although he has been allowed to keep the farm forever, tomorrow will be another hard day of work, and it will continue that way from many years. Elli assures him that things will be easier now that he has made so many friends, and that she will stand by him through any hardship that my come their way, and they share a kiss before singing their old childhood lullaby as the sun sets.

Cast

 * Peter "Pete" Riverheart, the main character of the film, who plans to restore the farm of his old friend. He is based on Pete from the Harvest Moon series of games.
 * Farmer Jack, Pete's old childhood friend, who died and left him the farm in his will. He is based on the original owner of the farm from Friends of Mineral Town.
 * Mr. Riverheart, Pete's father, who allows him to restore the farm. He loves his son, but is bitter over the death of his wife three years prior, and has difficulty expressing happiness.
 * Mrs. Riverheart, Pete's mother, who died three years prior to the main events of the film.
 * Ellen "Elli" Daybrook, orphaned daughter of Daniel Daybrook, former owner of the bakery. She is Pete's love interest (and later wife) in the film. She is a nurse at the hospital, and also helps out at the bakery occasionally, struggling to make money to support her grandmother. She is based on Elli from Harvest Moon 64 and Friends of Mineral Town.
 * Ellen Wellington, Elli's grandmother, who Elli struggles to support. She is based on Ellen from Harvest Moon 64.
 * Jeff Fogbrew, the current owner of the bakery. He was orphaned as a child, and taken in by Elli's father. He is based on Jeff from Harvest Moon 64.
 * Duke Fogbrew, the bartender. Jeff's uncle. He is based on Duke from Harvest Moon 64.
 * Douglas "Doug" Green, the local blacksmith, and owner of the Green Ranch. He initially believes that Pete is too young to run Farmer Jack's farm, but eventually discovers that Pete's enthusiasm is making the farm better than ever. He is based on Doug from Harvest Moon 64 and Friends of Mineral Town.
 * Gray Green, Doug's son. He is very antisocial, and not very fond of Pete, but really does care deep down inside, and eventually marries Popuri. He is based on Gray from Harvest Moon 64.
 * Ann Green, Doug's daughter. She is a redheaded tomboy who loves animals, and trusts Pete from the beginning. She begins dating Cliff, and is based on Ann from Harvest Moon 54 and Friends of Mineral Town.