In June of 1975, Buzz Williams’s brother, Lenny, leaves for “the Corps.” Although Buzz doesn’t understand much of what’s in Lenny’s letters, he reads them often. Over the next few years, he emulates Lenny in every way, even though Lenny is now a stranger—more a Marine than his older brother.

When Lenny visits home, he teaches Buzz all about the Marine Corps. But within two years he is relocated again, this time to California. In 1985, Lenny dies in a car accident. Their father, already sick with cancer, dies in 1987. Buzz begins drinking. He enrolls in college but soon drops out, and it’s not until he speaks with Big Ray, a body-builder at the health club where Buzz works, that he remembers his dream to be a Marine and follow in Lenny’s footsteps.

Soon after enlisting he meets Gina, the first person who understands his desire to do what Lenny did. She reads the letters Lenny sent, and understands their significance, and the desire Williams feels to follow in Lenny’s footsteps.