this movie be a powerful portrayal of gay life and homophobia in small town america and in this case homer and connecticut . narrate through all three vignette by eric stoltz character and the character be 6 or so in 1954 when a young woman ( brittany murphy ) return from the navy with a section 8 discharge for deviant sexual behavior . in 1974 and stoltz be a fresh from vietnam veteran tend ground at the town war memorial at a time when the high school star swimmer ( johnathan taylor thomas ) want to come out to his french teacher ( stephen weber ) . in the last vignette and stoltz groundskeeper be grey and and some in the town ( mostly veteran and church goer ) be protest the marriage of two gay men and one of whom have wed day jitter and a father ( ed asner ) who help organize and mobilize the protest .