Plot Summary
While driving his Jaguar XK150 Roadster the country, thirty-six year old advertising executive, Martin Sloan (Gig Young), stops to have his car serviced at a gas station within walking distance of his hometown, Homewood. After walking into town, he sees that it apparently has not changed since he was a boy, including the drugstore with a soda fountain that still sells sodas for a dime, and whose proprietor (whom Sloan remembers as having died) is, unbeknownst to him, still alive.
Sloan walks to the park where he is startled to see himself as a boy. Following the boy home, he meets his parents as they were in his childhood. A young man shows off his brand-new 1934 Ford Model B roadster, making Sloan question the year he has walked into. Confused and worried, Sloan wanders around town and ends up at home again that evening, where he again tries to convince his parents who he is but is again turned away.
Sloan wanders back to the park and finds his childhood self on a carousel, and tries to tell him to enjoy his childhood while it lasts. His advances scare young Martin, who falls off the merry-go-round and injures his leg. After young Martin is carried away, Sloan is confronted by his father who, having seen the documents and money with future dates on them in Sloan's lost wallet, now believes his story. The man advises his son that everyone has their time, and that instead of looking behind him, he should look ahead, because the happiness he is seeking may be in the places he hasn't looked yet.
When Sloan walks back into the drugstore, he finds himself in present-day Homewood during the afternoon. After discovering he now has a limp from the carousel injury, he makes his way back to the gas station. He picks up his car and drives away, content to live his life as it is.
Read more about this topic: Walking Distance
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