May and Raleigh meet in 1940 on an eastbound train that carries the bodies of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathanael West. Unable to enlist because of a medical condition, he wants to be a writer; she wants to be a missionary and they discover they are from neighboring towns in Kentucky. In this boy-meets-girl romance, nominated for Best Play 2000 by the New York Drama League, two young people navigate through the tough times of a country at war discovering what they have to give up to get what they really want.