Lenny Beibel, a wannabe journalist, travels to an international environmental conference in rural Vermont, in search of a story that will put him in the big leagues. He sure needs one.

There he meets Rachel Seagrave, EarthKare visionary founder. Rachel and her team of bumbling colleagues still cling to the hope that Nobel winner Al Gore will appear in time to inspire the faithful. But time is running short.

Waiting in the wings is self-help guru Henry "On Your" Marks. Henry is the slick purveyor of JogThink, a self-help philosophy popular at business and sales conventions. How it could pertain to the environmental crisis is far from clear to Rachel and her comrades. But Henry is not one to give up easily. Renown for Creating Your Own Finish Line, he sprints onto the scene, determined to convince Rachel he is worthy of this gig, and worthy of her.

But what's that, up in the sky? An endangered species bird thought to be extinct is sighted flitting around where the conference will be held.

With a mad stampede of birders, a missing ex-Vice President, and a keynote speaker who may or may not be a fraud, Beibel's got his story. It's just not the story that anyone planned on.

WAITING FOR AL GORE is a fish-out-water drama that blends the urgencies of environmental activism with the folly of self-help bombast, featuring an ensemble cast worthy of a Wes Anderson film.