An aged couple is driving through the empty streets of a town.
They are driving with comfort and loving words towards each other.
They are about to engage in a fulfilling retirement.
As they drive through a desert-like landscape, freedom and possibilities surround them, and
it is shown that they are trying to hold in their excitement.
The wife turns to the husband and says that they will have fun.
The husband says that he might try and do that, which seems to indicate that their,
or at least his, life has been filled with possible hardships.
And now here they are, attempting to enter a different and more rewarding phase in their
lives.
But then an accident takes place.
A vehicle slams into them, and it seems like their near future is going to take a different
route than the one they were envisioning.
EMT personnel arrive and begin removing the injured couple from their vehicle.
Images of the couple being at a beach are interspersed with the images of them being
taken care of by the EMT.
Then the scene changes to the year 1964 and shows some male individuals in uniforms.
They are lining up to take some food at a cafeteria.
One such male seems to be instantly delighted by a young female serving the food.
He attempts at some small talk with her, but she quickly tells him to keep moving.
Was she as interested as he was?
It is too early to tell.
The scene changes again to that young lady coming to her home, and seeing her father
sitting on a chair while reading a magazine.
He asks her about the happenings at her job.
And even trivial news he is not bored to hear about.
He then asks if she is dating anyone from the military.
She gives a “No” to that, but regardless of her answer, he still presses her with fatherly
concern.
GIs are reckless in his eyes, and not right for his daughter.
The present is shown again.
The female victim of the car accident is in a hospital talking to a doctor.
He informs her that she is lucky to have only received a sprained shoulder.
Her husband, however, is still in surgery.
He was inflicted with a complete spinal cord injury and is said to be paralyzed.
They will know more after the surgery, but she is still taken by the shocking news.
Her daughter arrives at the hospital and asks about her father.
When she gets the negative information, both mother and daughter engage in a touching prayer
to save his life.
A second daughter then arrives and shows concern for whether the doctors are doing everything
properly.
One minute can not pass from when she arrives to when she quickly goes to check on proper
doctor dutifulness.
Stating to work at a hospital herself, her concern is rooted in experience.
The cafeteria in 1964 is shown a second time.
The GI that was clearly interested in the young serving lady has returned, and this
time with a compliment to her hair.
Jan says very early on to him that she has no intentions of ever dating GIs.
He plays it off with a smile.
Not even a dent was added to this man’s ego.
He keeps on smiling as he walks away, knowing full well that this was just an early encounter,
and that the future can still be big and colorful.
Jan is then shown sitting and eating lunch with her food-serving companion.
They discuss the guy that has the attraction for her.
Does she like him?
Is he attractive for her?
It doesn’t matter -- her dad will have none of it.
If the government covered him in a uniform with patches, then he is not for her.
A third showing of the persistent Steve is then displayed.
He says to her how he heard that she wanted to go out with him.
But Jan only looks at her girlfriend in response to that.
He then uses the hair compliment again.
But that is also to no avail.
He heads off with a smile once more, saying to the apple of his eye that he will see her
on Monday.
She smiles, but perhaps at the conversation, and not to him.
In present time, at the hospital, the doctor approaches the family of three females and
tells them that they can now see the father.
They do so, and are all moved to tears at the sight of him covered in recovery materials
while being unconscious.
Then a montage comes into focus.
A playful collection of scenes of Steve, trying ever so persistently to strike something of
significance with the young pretty girl that serves the food.
But each time she shoots him down.
She is either washing her hair or doing laundry -- those are the typical responses that he
receives when he asks her something like what is she doing.
They are all smiling and having fun while doing it, and it is doubtful that a single
dent on the guy’s ego has still appeared.
But then he asks her if Sunday would suit her, and he finally gets somewhat of an acceptance.
She says “maybe” to him.
The two of them are then shown to be on a date night.
Her girlfriend is going to the movies with her male companion, but she and Steve decide
not to join them and instead just want to sit and talk.
Instead of sitting, they walk and talk.
And while she agreed on the date with him, she is still keeping mostly to herself.
They then finally get to sit and talk on a bench.
The talking gets somewhat more intimate, and Steve tries to alleviate her concern about
him being non-decent.
He says that he is not like other guys.
In present time, the father has awoken, and the family comes in to see him.
It does not look that bad anymore.
A recovery is in sight.
Jan then has Steve over for dinner at her house.
But she says that he is only a friend.
Her family and him converse about the usual things when a newcomer comes over for dinner.
Does he make a good impression?
The mother seems okay with him, but the father seems to be hiding his concerns.
Time goes by.
Six months go by, and Jan is still dating Steve.
She states her own concern to one of his friends.
She says that she wants her father to see Steve the way she sees him, and not the way
that her father thinks he is.
Steve’s friend asks her, How long is she willing to wait for that.
And her reply is that she will wait for as long as it takes.
Another night of dinner allows for Jan’s father to make some use of Steve.
He asks if he could help him out by clearing up his garage.
Steve somewhat hesitates because it looks like it could take some time, and might interfere
with his early morning military schedule.
But he does not say that, and instead just says that he has a morning class.
Jan urges him to leave, but he’s doing it for her.
If he has to pass this test, then he will make himself do it.
His friend later tells him at the church that Jan’s father is testing Steve to see if
his intentions are pure.
But soon after that, Steve and Jan’s father get into an argument when Steve helps out
with a weed problem.
The father calls him “soft” and accuses him and Jan of being more than just friends.
Later, a time came when Jan’s father, being the Air Force sergeant that he is, rides through
a gate guarded by Steve.
He notices him and confronts his daughter about that horrible news for him.
Six months he has been lied to.
He then firmly states that she is never to see him again.
But of course Jan disagrees.
Back at present time, the family is trying to decide whether to keep Steve at the hospital.
Another professional there tells them that he is only getting worse.
Two days after the accident took place, his functionality did not improve.
And very soon, the family is told, it will only get worse.
They have to decide how they want to handle the situation.
Jan says that if she could trade places with him, then she would.
In the past again, Jan sneaks out of the house to see Steve.
While together in a car, Steve tells her that he will be transferred to Omaha, and possibly
for a long time.
But before that happens, he says that he wants to marry her.
Jan responds in a heartfelt way.
And she wants him to get her father’s blessing if they are to marry.
She says It is important to her.
And Steve responds with a strong confirmation that he will get it.
Very soon after, Jan’s father rides in on them sitting in the car and calls his daughter
to himself.
He yells to Steve how he will not forget this, very likely making it harder for Steve to
get that marriage blessing.
On another day, Steve visits the residence of his girlfriend and finds her father sitting
on the porch with a rifle.
Steve says that there is something he wants to ask him.
The dad responds by wanting to go target practicing later on; Steve could ask him then.
When they get there, Steve asks what Jan wants dearly from her father.
He gives a chance.
If Steve could shoot a bottle 15 meters from where he stands with only two chances, then
that blessing is in his pocket.
While focusing on the shot, after having already missed his first one, Steve is being hammered
by the father’s questioning.
Steve tells him that he is being transferred to Omaha and the dad does not believe that
Steve will remain in love and faithful while being away.
Something that he could see is much more real than anything that could exist in a letter,
that Jan would send to him.
Live females are more real than words on paper and any pictures that might come with it.
But Steve insists that he is not like that.
He also ends up missing on his second shot.
In the hospital where Steve lies dying, Jan is with him alone this time.
She asks him what he wants for her to do, and while it most likely isn’t clear to
anyone how he responds, she understands the answer that he gives.
She later tells her daughters that after being together for 46 years, she knows what he wants,
and that is to be let go of.
They all gather in the room with him and say a prayer before they give his life to the
doctors.
In another car scene, Steve tells Jan that since he is being transferred, and does not
possess her father’s blessing, their relationship has to come to an end.
Due to this, Jan visits their pastor friend.
He tells her that if she loves him, then she should go fight for him.
When she comes home, she tells her dad that she loves him and that he has no right to
prevent them from being together.
But he insists that he is right.
Jan’s mother was the one that held the key to opening her husband.
She told him how they were in a similar situation a long time ago.
What other people were saying about him did not matter to her; she judged him herself
based on his actions.
He hears what she has to say and he agrees.
The next time Jan’s father sees Steve is at the gate again while Steve is on duty.
He asks him what being in the military means to him, and Steve answers that it has gone
as far as giving him a family.
Then Jan’s father presents the bottle that Steve supposedly missed during target practice.
Except that there was a small hole in it.
It was shot but did not shatter.
The father took that as a sign from God, and tells Steve that he could marry his daughter.
Their pastor friend then marries them.
Until they are parted by death, Jane repeats after the pastor.
And it is shown the passing of the elder Steve in present time.
Jan’s father is shown to be crying.
Steve puts a ring on Jan’s finger, and they become officially husband and wife.
The family mourns in present time as Steve passes.
And then they all return home.
One of the daughters asks if their mom is going to be okay without Steve, and she lets
it be known that she will.
The love that she will continue to receive from her daughters, and the love she has already
received from Steve will keep her moving forward.