- When a WWII pilot crashes in modern-day Ohio, a young widow and her stepson are swept up in his search for home.
- A World War II pilot, Theodore Cole, comes through a rift in time and space to 2020, and meets a widow and her stepson. The government insists that Theodore has to go back as he came or unleash a global catastrophe, but Theodore realizes that there's something he has to do before he returns.—Gislef
- Mary Ann Whitaker and her stepson Elijah drive through the Ohio woods to her deceased husband's sister's house. Elijah is in the back seat with his video game on Mary Ann's phone, and Mary Ann tries to make conversation. When Elijah doesn't respond, Mary Ann tells him to give her phone back and talk to her. She talks about the local zoo and says that she knows how much Elijah likes them, and he says that he doesn't like them without his recently deceased father. Mary Ann admits that she misses her husband as well.
The woman misses the turn to her sister-in-law's house because the GPS it out, and when she asks for a map Elijah notices that she has a letter in her purse with his name on it. Mary Ann quickly takes the letter from her stepson and refuses to discuss it, and makes a U turn. Behind the SUV, the mailboxes by the side of the road shake.
As Mary Ann drives back along the highway, the windshield suddenly shatters. Mary Ann brakes to a halt, and a World War II fighter flies over them and crashes in a nearby creek. Elijah gets out and runs over, and Mary Ann runs after him. Sher calls 911 and reports a plane crash, and Elijah spots someone in the cockpit. Mary Ann goes down and tries to open the canopy, finally getting it open. Lt. Theodore Cole climbs out as the plane burns, but refuses to go without a photograph on his control panel.
Once they're clear of the burning wreck, Elijah runs over and hugs Mary Ann. Theodore thanks Mary Ann for her rescue and introduces himself, saying he's with the 2nd Squadron. He asks if they're British or Dutch, and wonders what they're doing in Burma. Elijah tells him that they're in Ohio, and Ted says that he was just in a dogfight over a ridge... that isn't there. Ted sees a nearby water tower for Dayton, and remembers that he grew up near Dayton. Overhead, a storm "eye" forms in the clouds.
Mary Ann and Elijah take Ted to the nearby hospital in Bradford, and Sheriff Parker gets their story. When she repeats Ted's claim of being shot down near Rangoon, Elijah asks if it's possible that the pilot came from World War II. Parker says that Ted is delusional from a head injury. There's no registered tail numbers. Elijah looks over at the hospital room where Ted is, and asks his stepmother for money for the vending machine. She gives him a credit card because she's out of cash, and tells Parker that Elijah is her stepson
Elijah goes into Ted's room, slipping past unseen by the officer on guard, and Ted grabs the boy's wrist when Elijah looks at his dog tags. Panicked, Ted asks Elijah where he is, and Elijah asks if he's a bad guy. Ted says that he was fighting bad guys and confirms that he's a "real soldier". The pilot wonder what happened and says that it was Christmas Eve 1941, and Elijah tells him that it's September. He asks Elijah to help him escape, and offers the boy a Whiz candy bar from his jacket pocket. Ted explains that his wife gave it to him as a good luck charm every time before he flies. Elijah has never heard of a Whiz candy bar and says that he's been told not to take candy from strangers.
An officer sees Elijah in the room and pounds on the door that the boy locked, and Ted asks Elijah to find his friend, Sheriff Simmons, and tell him that his buddy Ted is in trouble. Elijah promises to do so, and the officer and an orderly break in. The officer slams Ted down on his bed and the orderly gives the pilot a sedative.
As Mary Ann and Elijah drive to the house, Elijah tells his stepmother what Ted said. Mary Ann figures that Ted was crazy, but Elijah wonders if Ted was telling the truth. He's checked and confirmed that they haven't made Whiz bars in 30 years, and says that Ted needs their help. Mary Ann irritably brakes to a halt, then drives back to Bradford to check with Simmons.
Behind them, a group of government cars and military vehicles arrive at the creek. The lead agent, Bill Kaminski, calls and says that no one should talk to Ted and that they have seven hours to do "it" sand can't afford any screw-ups. Kaminski tells the officers and firefighters on the scene that the road is closed until further notice and they should clear the crash site 10 miles in either direction. He then looks at the eye through a piece of scanning equipment, and his aide Nina Bowman tells him that he's done it dozens of times and his equipment isn't going to tell them anything new. Kaminski tells her to get Ted and Bowman leaves.
Mary Ann and Elijah arrive at the Bradford police station as Chief McClarty learns about Kaminski's order. They ask for Simmons and McClarty says that there's no Simmons there. Elijah looks at a display case, sees a photograph, and open the case, taking out a signed Johnny Bench baseball. The boy "accidentally" drops it and takes the photo when McClarty gets the baseball. Mary Ann takes Elijah outside, and he shows her the photograph from 1938. Ted is in it, and Mary Ann insists that it couldn't be Ted.
In the hospital, Ted wakes up and looks out the window, and sees Army soldiers pulling up outside. He knocks out the orderly when he comes in to give Ted another sedative, takes the orderly's uniform, and sneaks out as Bowman and her men tell Parker and his officers that they'll handle it. Once he finds his clothing, Ted sneaks out, while Bowman finds the unconscious orderly in Ted's hospital bed. Outside, Ted stares at the 21st century technology in surprise, breaks into a car, and sets off the alarm. Inside the hospital, Bowman sees him and calls her men to the parking lot. They run out just in time to see Ted drive off on a motorcycle that he's stolen.
At the crash site, government techs are lifting the fighter out of the creek and going through the water to find all the pieces. The ground shakes and a tech, Milburg, tells Kaminski that they have an anomaly. Kaminski isn't surprised, Milburg tells Kaminski that he knows the eye is a "doorway" and they have to send everything back through, and asks what happened if they don't. Kaminski just tells him to fix the plane.
Mary Ann stops at a gas station, and Elijah insists that the man in the photograph is Ted, not his ancestor, and that Ted has somehow traveled through time. The boy insists that time travel pulls someone to where they belong, like destiny. As Mary Ann checks the overheating engine, Elijah grabs the letter his stepmother took earlier and reads it. He gets out of the SUV and complains that his new elementary school, Jefferson, is in Burlington nearby, where his aunt lives. Elijah thought they were moving to San Diego together, and realizes that Mary Ann is going there by herself and "abandoning" him. Mary Ann explains that she promised her husband she'd always do what was best for Elijah. Elijah wonders if he's been too much trouble, and his stepmother tells him that he hasn't and it isn't about him. She figures that the best chance for Elijah isn't with her, and begs him not to fight her on it as he gets back in the SUV.
Mary Ann gets in as well and tells Elijah that everything will be okay and his aunt will take good care of him and that's what matters. Elijah wonders who will take care of Mary Ann. As they pull out, Ted is coming down the highway and wipes out on his motorcycle rather than hit them. Elijah figures that it's destiny, and asks Ted if he's in the photo. Ted confirms that he is and points out Simmons, and Elijah tells Mary Ann that Ted needs their help. Mary Ann gives in and asks Ted where he was going, and he says that he was going home to get to his wife Pauline. Police sirens sound in the distance, approaching, and Mary Ann tells Ted to get in the SUV with them.
Following Ted's directions, Mary Ann drives to his old home. He goes in and calls to Pauline, and a woman comes in and asks if she can help him. When Ted says that he's Pauline's husband, the woman asks if he's a little young to be her husband. Elijah and Mary Ann come in, and the woman--a nurse--asks what is going on. Elijah says that Ted is a friend of Pauline's, and the nurse asks Ted if he wants to see hello to Pauline. She says that Pauline is at her pottery class and should be back in a few minutes.
Ted looks at the wedding photos of himself on the wall, and Pauline with her second husband and their children. He goes outside to wait, and Mary Ann looks up Ted's obituary online. It says that Ted crashed on the day he came through the eye--the rift--and was shot and killed while trying to evade capture.
A newscast on the TV says that Elijah has been abducted, and Elijah and Mary Ann see it. The nurse sees it as well and goes to call the police, and police cars approach. Ted comes back in to warn them, and then goes out the back door only to see the soldiers approaching. He closes the back door as Kaminski calls over a loudspeaker for Ted to come out. Ted comes out, hands up, and Kaminski and Bowman approach him and Kaminski says that they're just there to get Ted back where he belongs. The ground shakes and Bowman says that it's a seismic tremor caused by Ted being there. Kaminski explains that Ted has traveled into the future and they need to hurry if Ted is going to go back to his own time.
Elijah runs out and tells Ted that he died in Burma, and leads Ted to the SUV. The others run over and Mary Ann calls to Elijah to get out as Ted locks the doors. Ted drives through the neighboring backyards and the soldiers pursue him, and Ted finds an old moonshiners' road that he remembers. They lose their pursuers but a tire goes out.
Ted and Elijah get out, and Elijah says that the chase was epic. Seeing something across a nearby river, Ted runs over and finds an old house. Elijah follows him, and Ted tells him that it's the place where he and Pauline last danced before he shipped out. Ted tells Elijah that he never said goodbye out of superstition, and asks Elijah what his obit said. Elijah explains how it said that Ted crashed and was killed evading capture. As they walk, Ted says that he doesn't belong there and maybe he should go back, while Elijah belongs with Mary Ann. The boy says that his stepmother just wants to drop him off with his aunt, and he and Ted both have nowhere to go.
Elijah says that they have to keep moving, but Ted wonders what the point is because Pauline moved on and lived her whole life with someone else. He wonders if he has to die, but Elijah insists that he can't. Ted wonders why it's so important to the boy that he lives, and Elijah shows Ted a picture of his father and explains that he died in the war in Afghanistan a year ago. The pilot says that he's sorry, but the world has nothing for him.
The two fugitives sit down on a bench overlooking the river, and Elijah suggests that there's a way Ted can get his life back with Pauline. Ted doesn't believe him, but Elijah suggests that he go back with a Kevlar vest so the enemy soldiers can't hurt him. The boy figures that's why the rift brought Ted there, to give him a second chance.
That night, Kaminski and his men take Mary Ann to a hangar. The techs are reassembling the crashed fighter there, and Kaminski tells Mary Ann that if anyone can find Elijah, it's Mary Ann. Mary Ann refuses to help them, figuring that Kaminski plans to send Ted back to die. He tells her that there's more at stake then she realizes, but Mary Ann doesn't believe him.
Elijah and Ted walk back, and Ted says that he doesn't want to survive because Pauline moved on. When Elijah wonders how he knows, Ted explains that on his and Pauline's first date, they found a good luck charm in a Crackerjack box. When they bought their house, Pauline pinned the charm to the mantle. It wasn't there when they were there earlier, and Ted figures that Pauline doesn't want to remember him.
Kaminski tells Mary Ann that the techs are restoring the fighter to what it was so that it can fly and they can send it and Ted back. The agents shows Mary Ann the sites of earthquakes and explains that they were all caused by rifts when things that came through them weren't returned. Many global catastrophes have been caused by the rifts, and if they can send whatever came through back, nothing happens. Convinced, Mary Ann tells them that Elijah has her phone.
Elijah takes Ted to a closed Army surplus store in town, and Ted tries to jimmy the lock. It's all steel and he can't.
Bowman drives Mary back into town with the soldiers, and Mary Ann asks Bowman how many times they've failed to close the rifts successfully. Sometimes Kaminski figures that they've missed something tiny, but Bowman figures that the rift has a will and it does what it does for a reason. The rift always stays open for exactly eleven hours, and she thinks something needs to happen in that time. However, Bowman has no idea what Ted needs to do.
Ted and Elijah hear the approaching sirens and run to a nearby railyard. A helicopter crew spots them and calls in the others, but Mary Ann asks Kaminski for the chance to talk to Ted first. Kaminski agrees and Mary Ann goes over. Ted agrees to go back if he has a weapon and protection, but Mary Ann tells him that he can't fight and the rift has happened before. If Ted doesn't go back the way that he came through, everything in ten miles would die. Elijah doesn't believe it and tells Ted that they're lying to him, but Mary Ann grabs her stepson and tells Ted that he has to go through.
Ted accepts his destiny, but Mary Ann says that the rift brought him there for a reason. Ted wonders what the reason could be, and tells him that he thinks he knows. They go back to Pauline's house and Kaminski gives Ted five minutes. Ted goes inside and finds Pauline at her kitchen table working on a puzzle. He hesitantly approaches her and greets her, and she stares at him and smiles. Ted apologizes for never saying goodbye, and figures that she moved on and forgot about him, and says that he loved her, always has, and always will.
The pilot says that he has to go, and Pauline shows him the charm that she wears on a chain around her neck. Ted invites her to dance one more time, and Pauline agrees. She hesitantly does so and Ted assures her that he's got her... and they dance. Kaminski comes in to get Ted, and Ted says goodbye to Pauline.
As Ted goes to his fighter, Mary Ann and Elijah are waiting. Elijah hugs the pilot, who says the boy will be fine, and asks for a moment alone with Mary Ann. Ted talks about California and says that Elijah is lonely, and the boy told him that Mary Ann is dropping Elijah off in Indiana. Mary Ann says that all she sees is her dead husband when she looks at Elijah. Ted figures that the rift brought him there because Mary Ann and Elijah are there, and figures that he was a pilot who died in a war just like her husband was. He figures Mary Ann knows what her husband is trying to tell her, and Mary Ann looks over at Elijah.
Kaminski wishes Ted luck. Realizing that he forgot something, Ted asks Elijah for the candy bar back. Elijah admits that he ate it and gives Ted the empty wrapper. It's too late to evacuate the area, but Ted that the rift isn't about taking a candy bar but doing what it want them do. He insists that their plan will work and gets in his fighter, and he flies up into the rift, looking at his photo of Pauline. The rift closes behind him and disappears, and the techs applaud in relief. Mary Ann and Elijah hug and walk away,
The next day, Mary Ann and Elijah drive to San Diego... together. Elijah looks up at the sky and smiles.
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