A late-autumn Sunday morning, post-WW2, in the backyard of Joe Keller. Joe made airplane parts during the war with his partner, Steve Deever. One batch was defective causing the deaths of over twenty pilots, sending Joe and his partner to jail. Joe was released on appeal and although at first everyone thought he pulled a fast one, most people are congenial to Joe and his family. | |
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Joe (Konrad Rogowski) sits between his neighbors Frank Lubey (Dana T. Ring) and Dr. Jim Bayliss (Robert Lunde). During the night, the wind blew down a tree Joe had planted in memory of his son Larry, who was reported missing in action. | Larry's girlfriend, Ann Deever (Steve's daughter), has come to visit, spending the night in Larry's old room. Jim's wife Sue (Amy Rucci) arrives to summon her husband to their phone, to deal with a patient. |
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Frank's wife Lydia (Ursula A. Nowik), comes to ask her husband to fix the toaster. She sits with Joe and wonders why Ann has not married in the three years since Larry's disappearance. | A young boy, Bert (Zak Kidd), pops up to give Joe the "secret handshake." Joe has the neighborhood kids convinced he's a Special Detective with a jail in his basement. Joe's other son, Chris (Shaun O'Keefe), watches this with bemusement. |
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Joe takes Chris aside to ask for the real reason Ann has come. If what he suspects is true, it will upset Joe's wife, Kate. Kate is convinced that Larry is still alive somewhere. | Kate (Marge Patefield) sees the destruction of the tree as a sign that they shouldn't have planted it--it shows lack of faith in Larry's survival. |
1 | Kate also questions why Chris has invited Ann to visit. Kate insists that the reason Ann is still single is that she's waiting for Larry to return. Joe's attempts to raise an alternate theory are interrupted by Bert, who comes to report another "infraction." Kate has had enough of the "jail" nonsense and angrily sends Bert away. |
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Ann (Rayah Martin) enters and brightens the mood. Kate tries to get Ann to admit that she's waiting for Larry—but she isn't. She harbors no resentment toward the family at all and blames her own father entirely, despite Joe's attempts to defend him. | |
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Left alone, Chris and Ann discuss the real reason she's here. Chris has wanted her for a long time, but didn't feel he deserved her. Ann accepts him completely. | While they were talking, Ann's brother George calls long distance. After Ann goes in to talk with him, Joe tells Chris that George had gone to visit his father in prison for the first time. They wonder what that can mean. |
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