In 2015, Vincent Bianco receives a package in the mail, which contains the journal that William Goodman kept while serving in the Vietnam War. Vincent had met William while he was working at a summer job after graduating from high school in 1979. They have been out of touch since then. In a letter that accompanies the journal, William explains that his wife has died from cancer, and he feels he can’t share this journal with anybody but Vincent, who had helped William move forward with his life by asking William to describe his time in Vietnam and truly listening to him. Before that summer, Vincent believed, as most teenagers do, that he was indestructible, and that the world was an exciting and beautiful place.

William’s first journal entry describes his mother giving him a gold crucifix on a chain and telling him not to be a hero as he leaves for boot camp before deploying to Vietnam.

Vincent finds the journal he kept when he was a teenager while his house is being remodeled. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have an 18-year-old son named Beau and a daughter named Mary Beth, who is a freshman in high school.