- A decorated World War 2 Veteran meets some of his greatest challenges as he nears the end of a long life. He and his son find there are powerful lessons still to learn about themselves and each other as they both steer through the difficult days.
- Tom Williams, a 93-year-old widowed WW2 veteran, struggles with his declining health and loss of independence at a retirement home in North Carolina. His adult kids, spread out across the country, have differing opinions about whether to place him in hospice care with 24/7 Home Health support, something Tom is adamantly resisting. A long-planned trip to Australia for the family of Tom's daughter, Jane, the youngest of the siblings, forces a decision on his care.
Middle "child", 59-year-old Paul, who lives in New Mexico, makes a series of visits to Tom over a period of 9 months to help him cope with the changes in his health care regimen and, later, with the inevitability of his death. In comparison with his two siblings, Jane and Steve, who both had long marriages with kids and general stability, Paul's job as a reporter has had him bouncing around the country through many positions. He's also been divorced twice and has tried several times to get other relationships going, without success. He seems to have a good start on a new relationship with a woman named Samantha, who also happens to be dealing with the failing health of her own mother who is also widowed and living in an Albuquerque retirement home.
Paul gets support in dealing with his dad's situation from Samantha and, importantly, from his therapist, Don Daley. Don is helping Paul understand his relationship with his father (which has presented Paul with some challenges over the years) so that Paul can be a good companion to Tom on this difficult part of the ride of life. It is eventually revealed that Don has been through just such a trying time himself with his own father.
Over the course of many heart-felt conversations between Tom and Paul during Paul's visits, Paul suggests that Tom's frustration must feel like being all packed up and ready to go, waiting on a train platform. But for some reason, the train seems late. Tom finds comfort in the metaphor. Father and son continue to learn lessons from each other and erase some of their respective regrets. Once Tom becomes totally bed-bound and dependent on the not-always-reliable health care system, he begins to crave dying so he can be with his wife, Julia, again. He considers starving himself to bring the end on faster.
While back in New Mexico, Paul has a short routine phone call with his father. Within a couple of days, he gets word from his brother that Tom has gone unresponsive. The siblings rush to their father's side to bear witness to Tom's passage from this world to the next. In the final days, the siblings each have a chance to show their love for their father and for each other, as well as see the gifts Tom left to so many - inspiration to help one and all lead better lives.
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