Forrest Gump

In 1981, a feather lands at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia; Forrest Gump collects it, then recounts his life story to strangers on a bus bench.

In 1950s Alabama, Forrest is fitted with leg braces to correct a curved spine. His mother runs a boarding house out of their home. Among their tenants is Elvis Presley, who incorporates Forrest's jerky dance movements into his performances. On his first day of school, Forrest befriends a girl named Jenny Curran.

Forrest is often bullied because of his physical disability and low intelligence. While fleeing from several bullies, his leg braces break off, revealing Forrest to be a very fast runner. This talent allows him to receive a football scholarship at the University of Alabama in 1963, where he is coached by Bear Bryant, and witnesses Governor George Wallace's Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, during which he returns a dropped book to Vivian Malone Jones. Forrest becomes a top kick returner, is named to the All-American team, and meets President John F. Kennedy at the White House.

After graduating college in 1966, Forrest enlists into the U.S. Army where he befriends Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue, who convinces Forrest to go into the shrimping business with him after their service. They arrive in Vietnam in 1967 and serve with the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta. Their platoon is ambushed during a patrol, and Forrest saves several wounded platoon mates – including his lieutenant, Dan Taylor, but Bubba is killed. Forrest is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

At the anti-war March on the Pentagon rally, Forrest meets Abbie Hoffman and briefly reunites with Jenny, who has been living a hippie life. He also develops a talent for ping-pong, and becomes a sports celebrity as he competes against Chinese teams in ping-pong diplomacy, earning him an interview alongside John Lennon on The Dick Cavett Show, influencing the song "Imagine". He spends the 1971 New Year's Eve in New York City with Dan, who lost his legs in Vietnam and has become a deeply embittered alcoholic. Forrest meets President Richard Nixon, who grants him a room in the Watergate Hotel, where he unwittingly exposes the Watergate scandal.

Discharged from the Army, Forrest returns to Alabama and endorses a ping-pong paddle manufacturer, using the earnings to buy a shrimping boat in Bayou La Batre, fulfilling his promise to Bubba. Dan joins Forrest in 1974, and their lack of success changes when their boat becomes the sole survivor of Hurricane Carmen. They create the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company; Dan reconciles himself to his disabilities, and finally thanks Forrest for saving his life. Forrest returns home to his mother as she dies of cancer. Dan invests their money in Apple Computer and the two become millionaires. Forrest shares his earnings with the community and Bubba's family.

Jenny returns to stay with Forrest in 1976, recovering from years of child abuse, drugs, and prostitution. When Forrest proposes to her, she tells him she loves him and the two have sex, but she leaves the next morning. Heartbroken, Forrest spends the next three years in a relentless cross-country run.

In 1981, Forrest reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny inviting him to visit. She introduces him to their son, Forrest Gump Jr. Jenny tells Forrest she is sick with an unknown incurable virus, and the three move back to Forrest's home in Alabama. Jenny and Forrest marry, but she dies a year later. Forrest sends his son off on his first day of school as the feather from the movie's opening floats on the wind.