I Stare at You and Dream is a slice of life melodrama that journeys to the core of interrelationships. This film juxtaposes and links the lives of four people: the filmmaker, Susan Mogul; her friend, Rosie Sanchez; Rosie’s teenage daughter, Alejandra (Alex) Sanchez; and Ray Aguilar; Susan’s-on-and-off boyfriend. Tender and unflinching, each character gradually reveals their desires, wounds, and romantic entanglements in the context of their everyday lives. This intimate, multi-themed film is about familial and romantic relationships, and, explores how our past informs our present. The interwoven stories of Stare unfold in an episodic fashion, like a soap opera, and are carefully structured to build interrelated themes among the characters. Filmed in Susan’s Highland Park neighborhood, a predominantly working class Latino area of Los Angeles, Stare embraces the major themes of her body of work: female identity, family, relationships, and the quest for home.