The year is 1950 and Ruth Banes is a newly hatched high school graduate who yearns for independence from her family, particularly from a dull and
judgmental father. She wants to make life happen, rather than having life happen to her. Barry Crowder will graduate from USC with a degree in aeronautical engineering. His father, Henry Crowder, is the head of stress engineering at McDonnell Douglas, a young aeronautical company in El Segundo, CA. Barry will to follow in his father's footsteps. Barry and Ruth meet, date for the better part of a year and then are pushed into marriage by the consequences of overstepping the moral boundaries of the 1950's, resulting in a son, Greg. Ruth's closest friend, Jewell Landry, has become an airline stewardess, traveling the country and the world. An LA stopover brings them together, bringing home to Ruth that she is not making her life happen. Even though Ruth has the obligation to a two-year-old, she decides to find a path of her own. That decision ultimately becomes a business and provides a degree of financial independence from her husband.
Years later fate blunders in and just as suddenly as it began, their marriage is over for her. But Barry does not understand Ruth's problem and cannot accept that they are separated and ultimately will be divorced. Searching for reasons that will let him understand their separation, Barry suddenly comes upon the idea that Ruth is having an affair and convinces himself that it has been going on for years.
Barry is befriended by Snuffy Harman, a dark figure intimating a dark past and questionable motivations. Then Snuffy offers Barry a talisman that Barry
believes will solve his problems with Ruth. It is completely foolproof, and but for a significant detail, almost perfect.
