Failed baseball player Billy Wyatt (Mark Harmon) learns that his childhood sweetheart, Katie (Jodie Foster), has killed herself. The exuberant but troubled Katie, with her love and friendship, profoundly influenced Billy's life. She indicated that she wanted him to handle her ashes, and so he embarks on a train ride to the seaside town where he grew up. Nostalgia and grief overcome him as he loses himself in reminiscences about the joys and pains of his adolescence.