In broad strokes, two young women (Pickles, very rural, and Breezy, very urban) are brought together by the mistakes or the circumstances of their guardians beyond their control. After months of prickly, unlikely friendship, and a series of poetically unexpected events, the two strike out on their own, leaving behind whatever scraps they had in exurban Pennsylvania in search of "Life on Mars."

I Want to Live on Mars was inspired by Centralia, a borough and ghost town in Pennsylvania. Its population has declined from 1,000 in 1980 to five residents in 2023 due to a coal mine fire that has been burning constantly beneath the borough since 1962.

It is an homage to what it’s like being a teenage girl, and living in the middle of nowhere with no real way of expressing yourself, and no opportunities. The search for the right place to film turned into me moving to Pennsylvania. The filmmaker, really wanted to explore the aspect of loneliness and emptiness in the human heart, as well as the people, and the environment in which these individuals immerse themselves. Are they going to try and break away from that, or will they let themselves sink into the abyss?