Coming Home
In 1968 California, a Marine officer's wife falls in love with a former high school classmate who suffered a paralyzing combat injury in the war.
Despite its limited budget of $3.0M, Coming Home became a massive hit, earning $32.7M worldwide—a remarkable 988% return. The film's distinctive approach found its audience, showing that strong storytelling can transcend budget limitations.
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Coming Home (1978) reveals meticulously timed narrative architecture, characteristic of Hal Ashby's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 2 hours and 7 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.0, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Sally Hyde bids farewell to her husband Bob as he prepares to deploy to Vietnam. She is the dutiful military wife, perfectly groomed and supportive, living within the confines of base expectations.. Significantly, this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 14 minutes when Sally moves off-base into her own apartment, a small but significant act of independence. This geographical and psychological separation from the military community begins her transformation.. At 11% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 32 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This reveals the protagonist's commitment to Sally actively chooses to engage with Luke Martin despite his anger and difficulty. She sees past his bitterness to the person inside, making a conscious choice to connect rather than retreat into safe conformity., moving from reaction to action.
At 64 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Significantly, this crucial beat Sally and Luke consummate their relationship in a tender, emotionally intimate scene that contrasts sharply with her dutiful marriage. This false victory represents Sally's complete embrace of her new identity, but Bob's eventual return looms as an unspoken threat., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 95 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Bob confronts Sally about her affair with Luke in a devastating scene. Bob, holding a rifle, is suicidal and volatile. The life Sally built—both her marriage and her relationship with Luke—collapses. The "death" is of her ability to reconcile both worlds., indicates the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 102 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 81% of the runtime. Sally realizes Bob has gone to the beach—the place he spoke of longingly. She and Luke race to find him. Sally synthesizes her compassion and newfound strength, choosing to try to save Bob not out of duty but out of genuine care for a suffering human being., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Coming Home's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs a 15-point narrative structure framework that maps key story moments. By mapping Coming Home against these established plot points, we can identify how Hal Ashby utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Coming Home within the drama genre.
Hal Ashby's Structural Approach
Among the 4 Hal Ashby films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 7.0, reflecting strong command of classical structure. Coming Home exemplifies the director's characteristic narrative technique. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Hal Ashby filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional drama films include Eye for an Eye, South Pacific and Kiss of the Spider Woman. For more Hal Ashby analyses, see Being There, Shampoo and The Last Detail.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Sally Hyde bids farewell to her husband Bob as he prepares to deploy to Vietnam. She is the dutiful military wife, perfectly groomed and supportive, living within the confines of base expectations.
Theme
At the VA hospital, a wounded veteran tells Sally: "You don't know what it's like over there." The theme of awakening to truth—about war, about self, about what really matters—is planted.
Worldbuilding
Sally's world as a Marine Corps wife is established: shopping with other wives, living in base housing, volunteering at the VA hospital. Meanwhile, Luke Martin, a paralyzed veteran bitter about the war, struggles in the under-resourced hospital.
Disruption
Sally moves off-base into her own apartment, a small but significant act of independence. This geographical and psychological separation from the military community begins her transformation.
Resistance
Sally tentatively explores her new independence, taking a job coordinating volunteers at the VA hospital. She navigates her new life while still writing dutiful letters to Bob, caught between her old identity and emerging self.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Sally actively chooses to engage with Luke Martin despite his anger and difficulty. She sees past his bitterness to the person inside, making a conscious choice to connect rather than retreat into safe conformity.
Mirror World
Luke and Sally's relationship deepens as they spend time together outside the hospital. Luke represents everything opposite to Sally's military world—he questions authority, speaks truth, and has been transformed by his experience. He will teach her what she needs to learn.
Premise
Sally blossoms in her new life—finding purpose in her work, confidence in her choices, and passion in her relationship with Luke. The promise of the premise: a woman discovering herself through connection with someone who challenges everything she thought she knew.
Midpoint
Sally and Luke consummate their relationship in a tender, emotionally intimate scene that contrasts sharply with her dutiful marriage. This false victory represents Sally's complete embrace of her new identity, but Bob's eventual return looms as an unspoken threat.
Opposition
Bob returns from Vietnam, wounded and psychologically damaged. The pressure intensifies as Sally must navigate between her transformed self and her husband's expectations. Bob's jealousy and instability grow as he senses the change in Sally and learns of Luke.
Collapse
Bob confronts Sally about her affair with Luke in a devastating scene. Bob, holding a rifle, is suicidal and volatile. The life Sally built—both her marriage and her relationship with Luke—collapses. The "death" is of her ability to reconcile both worlds.
Crisis
Sally sits in darkness processing the destruction of her marriage and the impossible situation. Bob disappears. Luke is devastated. Sally must decide who she is and what she stands for in the wreckage.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Sally realizes Bob has gone to the beach—the place he spoke of longingly. She and Luke race to find him. Sally synthesizes her compassion and newfound strength, choosing to try to save Bob not out of duty but out of genuine care for a suffering human being.
Synthesis
Sally and authorities find Bob preparing to walk into the ocean. The finale resolves the external plot (Bob's fate) while honoring all three characters' transformations. Luke speaks at a high school about the reality of war, using his voice for truth.
Transformation
Sally, now fully herself, stands in the high school audience listening to Luke speak truth about war to young men. The final image mirrors the opening: she's still connected to these men and their struggles, but now as an awakened, autonomous woman who has found her own voice and values.