Plot

The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles, and downfalls.

The future holds unlimited for newborn John Sims as he is born on the Fourth of July 1900. But dreams soon fade with his father's death when John is still but a lad. Like many before him, John sets out to make his mark in New York City, but ends up a faceless worker (#137) in a large office of a large business. Still, he is happy with his fate and soon meets a young woman named Mary on a blind double-date. Things take their course and they soon marry and live in a small apartment. Soon John is bickering with Mary and finds that he has no love for the in-laws. When the marriage looks like a bust, he finds that Mary is with child and he stays. After 5 years, he has a son and a daughter and the same dead-end job. When tragedy strikes, John must find the conviction to continue or lose what little he has left.—Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>

From a very early age, John Sims, born on American Independence Day 1900, was constantly told by his family that he was destined for greatness, which he believed himself. At age 21 he moves to New York City to make it big, New York being a city where one has to distinguish oneself to achieve greatness. There, he quickly meets Mary. They fall in love and get married. Mary too gets caught up in the dream of his supposed destiny. But John does nothing to achieve greatness and blames everyone but himself for problems in his life. For every small step he takes forward, something makes him take two steps back. It isn't until something or someone shows him that he is responsible for what happens in his life that things can progress to his dreams.—Huggo