 The story concentrates on the social re-adjustment of three World War II servicemen, each from a different station of society. Al Stephenson (Fredric March) returns to an influential banking position, but finds it hard to reconcile his loyalties to ex-servicemen with new commercial realities. Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) is an ordinary working man who finds it difficult to hold down a job or pick up the threads of his marriage. Having had both hands burnt off during the war, Homer Parrish (Harold Russell) is unsure that his fiancée s feelings are still those of love and not those of pity. Each of the veterans faces a crisis upon his arrival, and each crisis is a microcosm of the experiences of many American warriors who found an alien world awaiting them when they came marching home. In short, the film has everything: laughter, tears, romance, anger, compassion, steadfast love, wrenching drama, social message, emotional dynamite.