May and Raleigh meet on an eastbound train in 1940. She is a small-town girl from Kentucky, disappointed in love. He is a recent medically discharged soldier. These two are an unlikely couple — they tease and fight and say mean things to each other. And so the love story begins. It will be a long and uneasy journey, full of personal failures at an anxious time in American history. Through life experiences and many disappointments, May and Raleigh will understand the importance of listening to each other, and realize that the train encounter was the best thing that happened in their lives.