Walter is a soldier who has just come back from fighting in World War II. He gets off of the boat in San Francisco in 1945 and roams around the pier, lonely. He reminisces on his times with his dead friend, Lieutenant Stinson, who helped comfort Walter by admitting that he, too, was scared. Stinson was injured and eventually died during a battle against the Japanese fighters. Walter remembers having read to Stinson while he was injured. Stinson had promised that they would attend each other’s weddings. Walter thinks to his unhappy marriage with his wife, Carlice, and his daughter and son-in-law, all people that Stinson would never meet. Walter keeps walking, unsure of what to do with his day.