This movie is a powerful portrayal of gay life and homophobia in small-town America, in this case Homer, Connecticut. Narrated through all three vignettes by Eric Stoltz's character, the character is 6 or so in "1954" when a young woman (Brittany Murphy) returns from the Navy with a Section 8 discharge for "deviant sexual behavior". In "1974", Stoltz is a fresh-from-Vietnam veteran tending grounds at the town war memorial at a time when the high school's star swimmer (Johnathan Taylor Thomas) wants to come out to his French teacher (Stephen Weber). In the last vignette, Stoltz's groundskeeper is greying, and some in the town (mostly veterans and church-goers) are protesting the marriage of two gay men, one of whom has wedding-day jitters and a father (Ed Asner) who helped organize and mobilize the protest.