On a lovely night in May of 1972, a rookie playwright named Richard has just finished
directing a play in his college theatre. He makes his way around, greeting and
socialising with his impressed audience as an elderly woman stares at him from a distance.
Eventually, she awkwardly approaches Richard and hands him a pocket watch. Afterwhich, she tells
him to 'come back' to her before abruptly walking away. A confused Richard is stunned by her action
as he had never met her prior to that interaction and merely watches as the old lady walks away.
Eight years later, in the city of Chicago, Richard has become a successful producer with a
lineup of commercially and critically acclaimed plays under his belt. One day while at work,
Richard gets a spontaneous urge to head for a trip. Acting on this, he immediately gets in his
car and drives to a nearby hotel. On arrival, he meets the receptionist, who helps him book a room.
Afterwhich, an elderly porter helps with his luggage and leads him to his suite. There,
the porter introduces himself as Arthur and renders himself of service if Richard ever
needs him. Richard thanks him for his kind offer and hands him a tip before leaving.
The next morning, Richard tours the hotel and soon finds the establishment's "Hall of Fame" room.
There, he spots and is instantly mesmerised by the portrait of an unnamed woman hanging
on one of the walls. Curious to discover her identity, he asks Arthur about her.
The veteran informs him that the mystery woman is named Elise McKenna,
a famous actress who starred in multiple plays and movies back in the 1910s.
Richard is confused at hearing this as the portrait he saw looked quite familiar to him.
Throughout the night, the thought of Elise haunts him, and the next morning,
he eventually heads to the town's library to do some research on her. There, Richard sees a
magazine with a picture of Elise, just a few days before her death. The image shocks Richard as he
discovers that Elise is the same old lady who gave him the pocket watch eight years ago.
Soon after, he visits the house of Miss Roberts, an old-time friend of Elise,
to ask some further questions. On arrival, the old lady is reluctant to talk to him but decides to
give him an audience when he shows her Elise's pocket watch. In the house, he sees a familiar
book on a shelf titled "Travels through Time", written by his former college professor.
Seeing this as a sign, Robert immediately heads to the college to meet the lecturer. On finding him,
he straightforwardly asks the man if time travel is possible.
Upon hearing the question, Finney's countenance immediately changes. After further questioning,
the Professor narrates a story of a momentary time travel experience he had some years prior.
He recounts that in 1971, he entered a room filled entirely with objects from 1571,
and hypnotised his mind to believe that he truly was in 1571. He explains that he achieved this
feat by constantly chanting words, assuring himself that he truly was in that time period.
According to Finney, the ritual worked, and he was soon transported back in time to that year—
Wow! If only time travel were that easy. The professor adds before Richard leaves
that during his surreal experience, he saw an item from the late 1900s,
which immediately transported him back to the present. Hence, he warns his former student to
keep all items from the present away from him, in case he attempts to time travel to the past.
Hearing this, Richard immediately goes around town buying items produced specifically in 1912.
Afterwhich, he returns to his room, replaces the decor with the newly obtained antiques,
and changes his outfit to one which was customary for that time.
Like Finney described, he repeatedly chants to himself via a recording that he is in
1912. However, nothing happens after hours of trying, which leaves Richard
feeling frustrated and distraught. Eventually, he exits his room and again
visits the 'Hall of Fame.' This time, he spots a Guest Registration Book which gives him an idea.
He checks the hotel's attic for their old records and finds the Guest Register from 1912.
He goes through the list of guests and finds his name on it, in his handwriting. Thus,
proving that he truly can and did time travel. Armed with this knowledge, he returns to his
room and tries again. However, this time, he does it without the recording. He chants the
words religiously with his eyes shut tight and does this until he eventually sleeps off.
Miraculously, he wakes up the following day in the same room but in 1912. However, Richard soon finds
that a middle-aged couple is currently occupying the room. He carefully hides from them to avoid
being seen and narrowly escapes from the suite. Afterwards, Richard goes to the theatre to
look for Elise. He finds a bunch of actors there practising their lines,
but none of them appears to be her. He tries asking the actors on stage about her whereabouts,
but none of them pays him any attention. A desperate Richard finds his way backstage and
knocks on the door of a dressing room, hoping that she is in there but is disappointed to
find another actress. Seeing this, he informs the actress that he is looking for Elise and politely
asks where he can find her. The eccentric lady stares at him intensely, before replying that
she is at the lake. A grateful Richard thanks her profusely. Afterwhich, he heads over there.
At the lake, Richard finds Elise amongst the trees just a few meters from the water. On meeting her,
they immediately sense a connection and soon initiate a conversation. However, their brief
interaction barely lasts a few moments, when they are interrupted by Elise's manager, Robinson.
The stern man calls her to him. Afterwhich, the duo walks away, with Richard following
them at a distance. Seeing this, Robinson threatens to have him evicted from the hotel,
if he disturbs Elise any further. Later that night, Richard visits the dining room,
hoping to run into Elise again. After a few minutes of scanning the crowd,
he is ecstatic to see her on the dance floor. On getting to the floor,
he requests a dance with her which she obliges to, while Robinson stares at him from a corner.
Soon after, Robinson alerts a hotel staff who has Richard thrown out of the hall. However,
before he exits, Elise opts to go with him, much to Robinson's displeasure.
Outside the hall, Richard complains about Robinson's persistently annoying behaviour,
but Elise comes to his defence, explaining that he is merely looking out for her.
The duo continues conversing for a few minutes, formally introducing themselves.
Afterwhich, Elise returns to the party. The next morning, Richard visits Elise's room
and politely asks her to join him for breakfast. However, Elise, who has a big performance later
that night, quickly declines stating that she doesn't eat before a show. Alternatively,
Richard proposes that they go for a walk instead. She initially rejects the offer,
but he refuses to take no for an answer and relentlessly asks her to reconsider.
His persistence cajoles Elise, prompting her to agree to meet him later that day.
After the exchange, Richard goes to the hotel's lobby to formally check into a room.
In the lobby, he meets a 5-year-old Arthur and says Hi to the young toddler. Afterwhich,
he formally signs in the same register he previously saw in the attic back in 1980.
In the afternoon, he meets with Elise in front of the hotel as scheduled. As they leave,
they spot Robinson once again watching them from a distance. To get away from him, the duo enters
a carriage and heads for town. The couple visits many places there,
starting with a public park where they enjoy the relaxing scenery as they watch
people paint in an open field. Afterwards, they head for a beach and canoe back to the park.
This time, the couple finds and sits in a shed to shield themselves from the sun.
Under the shade, Robert tries to kiss Elise, but she awkwardly stops him, asking to return
to the hotel as she needs to rest before her play, which is to hold later that night.
Respectfully, Robert offers to escort her back to her room, which she accepts. On their way there,
Elise informs him that she, alongside her play company, would leave for Denver immediately after
their play that night. Robert is taken aback by the news, which greatly saddens him.
On arrival, she invites him into her room. Inside, Robert tries to kiss her again. However,
this time, Elise doesn't object, and the couple shares a kiss. But this is cut
short by someone's knock on the door, which they soon discover to be Robinson's.
When he enters the room, he is shocked to see Robert and instantly asks him to leave.
However, Elise, who had had enough of his constant monitoring, snaps at him,
firmly asking him not to interfere in her personal life. Witnessing the awkward situation,
Richard leaves the room, followed shortly after by a hurt Robinson.
That night, Richard goes to watch Elise's play in the hotel's theatre. The actress spots him in
the audience and smiles at him, acknowledging his presence as he does the same. Just then,
Richard receives a letter from Robinson requesting to meet him at the gazebo outside the theatre.
Seeing the letter, Richard heads to the gazebo to meet him. When he arrives,
the two get into an argument as Robinson asks him to abstain from Elise. Naturally, Richard
refuses and leaves the shed upon realising that they cannot reach a middle ground. But, before
Richard can return to the theatre, he is knocked out and abducted by two men sent by Robinson.
After the play, Elise frantically searches for Richard but can't seem to find him anywhere.
In the meantime, Robinson pays a visit to her room. upon entering, he tells her that he
spotted Richard leaving the hotel without her. Suspecting that he has done something with him,
Elise disbelieves him, and replies that she would find Richard wherever he is. Afterwhich,
Robinson exits her room but not before reminding her that they are scheduled to leave for Denver,
with the rest of the company that night. On hearing this, Elise is torn between
staying behind to search for Richard and leaving with the rest of the company.
Meanwhile, Richard wakes up the next morning and finds himself tied up in a barn.
He struggles to unbind himself and eventually manages to do so after a bit of struggle.
Once free, Richard immediately runs to Elise's room but, upon reaching there,
finds it locked. Luckily, he runs into the hotel manager strolling the hallway and asks
him where the play company is. Sadly, the manager informs him that they all left that morning.
upon hearing this, a dejected Richard heads outside the hotel and sits on
a bench right in front of it, where he wallows in his thoughts. However,
he quickly recovers his spirit when he hears Elise's voice from behind him screaming his name.
He turns around and sees her sprinting towards him. In turn, he also runs to her as the couple
kiss and hold each other in a warm embrace. In the following scene, the couple shares
the night together, and spend the next day conversing. During their dialogue,
Elise brings up Richard's suit and states that it is old and strange looking,
but Richard defends his clothing, calling it well-fitted and handy. He also brags that it has
a lot of pockets and reaches into one of them. Feeling something inside, he pulls it out and is
shocked to discover it to be a coin from 1979. Suddenly, he recalls the
Professor's warning. At that exact moment, he is transported back to the present.
Realising this, Richard is instantly thrown into a feat of depression and
remains in his room for an entire week without eating. Noticing his disappearance, Arthur,
alongside the hotel manager, breaks into his room. There, they find him barely alive,
in a ghostly state, staring at a window. They lay him on a bed while a doctor tries
to resuscitate him, as a hotel worker calls for an ambulance. The movie ends
as Richard's vision goes white with his present self reuniting with Elise.