Steve goes to the clinic to get a salve for a skin rash he contracted in the jungles of Vietnam. He has recently returned home from the war and, overcome by what he has seen and done, struggles to feel any emotion at all. He visits places that used to be significant to him and looks at his mission slides over and over again, but nothing can bring back the joy and faith he used to feel or even the desire to go to school and pursue basic life goals. The doctor at the clinic tries to convince him that suffering is everywhere, that in desperate situations men do terrible things, and that the best thing he can do now is move on with his life.