 Recently-deceased Matthew Macauley looks down upon his family in small-town Ithaca, where eldest son Marcus has departed to await deployment for combat in the Second World War. This leaves middle son Homer to support the family, working at a telegraph station. Now the man of the family, Homer comes of age amidst the clarion call of war, even as youngest son Ulysses discovers the wonders of life, and Marcus inspires his platoon mate, foundling Toby George, with stories of idyllic Ithaca.