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Louie returns to parents' house
Louie is reunited with his family after the military finally releases him from an assortment of hospitals. It is an emotional event for the whole family who had been without him for almost four years. A poignant moment occurs when Sylvia plays her prized record of Louie's coerced radio broadcast, following with Louie violenlty screaming, shaking, and cursing. -
Louie spots Cynthia Applewhite for the first time
While in Miami Beach, Louie sits drinking in a bar when he sees a beautiful girl walk in. His first thought was, "I have to marry this girl." He later experiences a whirlwind romance with her, and they engage after only two weeks of knowing each other. Her family does not approve. -
Louie and Cynthia marry
In a rushed and unceremonious ceremony, Louie and Cynthia marry months before the day her family had planned. As Cynthia's family chastizes her on their wedding night, Louie drinks an entire bottle of champagne and his alcoholism begins. -
Louie injures ankle while training for 1948 London Olympics
Despite having run his best time yet while training for the 1948 Olympics, Louie's old injury, incurred at a POW camp, flares up. His depression deepens as he loses yet another one of his passions. Louie desperately grasps for meaning in life and searches for something to fixate on in order to escape the reality of his untreated PTSD. -
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Louie makes plans to kill the Bird
As Louie's flashbacks occur with increased intensity and frequency, he begins to lose the ability to exist in civilian society. His quest for revenge is triggered by a report in the newspaper about a former Pacific POW who spotted one of his captors in the grocery store. Louie begins to fantasize about encountering the Bird, killing him slowly, and finally making his tormentor feel and understand the pain he inflicted on Louie. At one point Louie considers flying to Japan to search for the Bird. -
Louie strangles a pregnant Cynthia after a nightmare about the Bird
As his PTSD worsens, Louie begins to unconsciously take out his anger and murderous passions on his wife. This night is truly his lowest point of his life with Cynthia. On numerous occasions, Louie's nightmares of the Bird cause him to awake with irrepressable rage and no outlet to rid himself of it. He turns to alcohol. -
Cissy is born
Though Louie loved his new daughter more than anything else, the stress of parenting affected both him and his marriage. Both parents turned to physical violence, throwing dishes and grabbing wrists. Not long after Cissy's birth, Cynthia took the baby and left him. -
Louie drunkenly crashes/loses his car in Hollywood
During a particularly intense night of partying, Louie drunkenly drives his car into a tree. He stumbles home to a worried Cynthia and falls asleep, awaking with no memory of the previous night. Two days later the police call to report where he left his car. He falls further into alcoholism after this loss of dignity. -
Cynthia decides not to divorce Louie
Cynthia hears Christian Evangelist Billy Graham speak after a recomendation from a neighbor; she comes home to Louie ready for a new start in their relationship, ending their phase of "grim coexistence." She no longer wants a divorce. Louie scoffs when she recounts her spiritual awakening. -
Louie hears Billy Grahm preach
Upon hearing a Bible verse that reminds him of his unfulfilled promise to God that he made on the raft, Louie leaves the lecture angrily. The verse warns that our own words, thoughts, and deeds will be what condems us in our judgment before God, and he feels personally convicted. Cynthia is greatly disappointed that her attempt to help him has failed. -
Louie finds Jesus
Billy Graham moves Louie to finally see God's hand in his life. Louie recognizes that his survival of the numerous hardships in his life are proof of God's work in his life. When he returns home from the sermon, Louie gets rids his house of any objects that satisfy or encourage his vices and begins a new chapter in his life. -
Louie goes to Sugamo Prison to forgive his captors
Louie travels to Japan to meet most of his former guards at Sugamo prison. Thanks to his newfound Christianity, he forgives them all. He feels a weight lifted off his chest as his internal war ended with this forgiveness. However, he leaves feeling conflicted about the fact that the Bird is supposedly dead; Louie experiences "a shiver or amazement," realizing that he felt compassion for the Bird.
