Returning to a holiday-decorated Coronado, Frances "Frankie" McGrath rushes home to share that she has enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps, is now Second Lieutenant McGrath, and will go to Basic Training at Fort Sam Houston before deploying to Vietnam. Expecting approval based on her family's tradition of service, she is stunned when Connor McGrath and Bette McGrath react with alarm and anger, emphasizing that in their family the men serve, and that they are a Navy household.

Frankie explains that only the Army would send her to Vietnam without two years of stateside experience, unlike the Navy or Air Force. Connor warns there is a reason for those rules, and Bette worries about appearances and safety, criticizing the romanticism of family war stories and recalling her own father's trauma from war. Despite Frankie’s assurances that she will be in a big hospital far from the front and might see Finley, her parents remain upset.

The doorbell rings. Two naval officers in dress uniform arrive, and the family immediately understands the implication. The officers inform the McGraths that Ensign Finley McGrath has been killed in action; his helicopter was shot down, all hands lost, and no remains were recovered. Connor holds himself together, quietly asking for details, while Bette collapses emotionally, repeating that she had believed it was “barely a war.”

Overwhelmed, Frankie slips out to the beach and is flooded with memories of Finley from their childhood—swimming, movies, holidays—confronting the finality of his loss. She struggles with questions about how he died and the absence of a body, wondering what they can bury.

Bette joins Frankie on the sand and says they have been told to bury another man’s boots and helmet in an empty coffin. When Bette asks Frankie not to go to Vietnam, Frankie first answers literally, then clarifies that her enlistment is irrevocable and asks for her mother’s blessing. Bette, hollowed by grief, refuses to express pride and reminds Frankie that Finley’s last words were also a promise to come home.

Unable to bridge the divide, Bette walks away, leaving Frankie alone with guilt and the sense that it is too late to undo either her decision or the loss of her brother.