Across the River to Motor City is a Canadian television drama series, that aired on Citytv stations. It debuted November 22, 2007. The series is about an insurance investigator named Ben Ford who works the border in both Detroit and Windsor. The story takes into account the shifting allegiances and ambitions that straddle the Detroit/Windsor boundary, and urban portion of the Canada/United States border. Benjamin Ford's 30th birthday happens to fall on a fateful day: November 22, 1963, the day of the Kennedy assassination. Coincidentally, it is also the day that his flight attendant girlfriend, Katie, disappears on a flight back from Dallas. The mystery of what happened to her, and why, consumes the life of Ben Ford; it eventually involves his adult daughter, Kathleen, when Katie's body turns up 40 years later. Family mysteries and intrigue play out against a backdrop of some of the more momentous events of recent American and Canadian history. The six-episode series was shot in Canada in the Ontario cities of Hamilton, Toronto, and Windsor, as well as in the United States in the Michigan city of Detroit. In April, 2008, Across The River To Motor City won a Canadian Screenwriting Award for Best Dramatic Writing for Denis McGrath and Robert Wertheimer.
November 22, 1963 is the day Ben Ford turns thirty. He’s about to ask his stewardess girlfriend Katie to marry him, leave his job as an insurance investigator and begin a new life. Then, on that fateful day, a motorcade rounds a corner – a muzzle flash passes into history – the President is shot and Camelot is dead. Katie’s flight is diverted through Dallas – and she disappears. Nothing will ever be the same. Not for Ben. Not for Katie. Not for any of us. Forty years later, Ben Ford is a bitter old man in ill health, forced to live with a grown daughter he barely knows. At the heart of their troubled relationship is a secret he’ll do anything to keep; a secret she’ll risk everything to learn. When Katie’s body washes ashore, the police are at his door, accusing him of murder.
Ben’s 1960s investigation into Katie’s death leads him to the one living stewardess left aboard Katie’s flight, while shady mob dealings begin to unravel. A present day and much older Benjamin Ford does not recognize the Windsor/Detroit of his youth and is forced to move in with his daughter, Kathleen and her family.
Eight months after Katie’s 1963 death, Ben Ford faces mounting pressures to stop his investigation into her disappearance. At the same time, territorial disputes become evident amongst Windsor/Detroit area mobsters. In present day, Benjamin Ford’s daughter Kathleen joins the police investigation from the American-side, while her father adjusts to unfamiliar surroundings.
Ben's investigation into a distasteful divorce case leads him to mobster Frank Calasso’s speakeasy. It seems they may have crossed paths before. Four decades later, Ben is put behind bars after confessing to Katie’s murder. Kathleen is sure that her father is lying to protect her but can’t figure out why.
Frank Calasso grows tired of Ben’s interference when he befriends Frank’s mistress. A confrontation seems inevitable. Ben is released from jail, but Kathleen’s links to a mysterious Cuban could destroy their lives.
The truth about Katie’s murder and Ben’s secrets are revealed – or are they? Ben receives a surprise delivery on his doorstep. Kathleen and her father reconcile – for now.
