A man's childhood best friend, Homer, has slowly watched his dreams fade over time. He wanted to be a preacher, but inherited the family hardware business instead. He wanted to marry for love, but now has a controlling and emotionally abusive wife. For years, the man has felt distanced from Homer, watching him shrivel into a thin and aged man without hope. However, when Homer and his wife decide to take a vacation in a beachside town, Homer gets a second chance at life. At the age of nearly 50, he finds himself drawn to the habits he once had - lying naked in the sun, spending hours alone in nature, and even meeting the eyes of pretty girls. As his wife becomes more tyrannical and cruel, Homer becomes more attracted to a much younger and more beautiful waitress. With his return to his youthful interests and habits, he physically becomes younger, until he looks no older than thirty-five, so handsome the waitress can't help liking him in return despite her passionate affair with a hotel bellhop. Homer decides he can't return to his draining life. He decides to run away with the waitress, hopping from one town to another to avoid scandal and reporters. Finally, they reach a place where the rumors don't follow them, and settle down for a happy and fulfilling life. One day, Homer returns home to find the waitress's door locked, and he knows what's going on. Determined to kill both lovers and himself, he breaks into the room and fires senselessly. When he regains his wits, he realizes it was the bellhop that she was with; he traveled across the country to find her because he loved her so deeply. Homer feels deep guilt for killing the two people responsible for setting him free from his life of drudgery. He tries and fails to commit suicide, willingly submitting to the death sentence in a courtroom following the murders. He only has one caveat - the man who was his childhood best friend must speak with him before he dies, because Homer knows nobody else could understand his story.