AL

A directionless young man names Cherry falls deeply in love with a classmate named Mona. And eventually Mona realizes that she is in love with Cherry. But then she plans to move away for school. When Mona makes her announcement, it breaks Cherry's heart and directly prompts him to make the impulsive decision to enlist in the Army. Cherry is devastated by her initial emotional distance and the news of her move. Feeling like he has nothing left to lose, he signs up to become an Army medic. By the time Mona changes her mind, decides she truly loves him, and comes back to be with him, Cherry has already committed and cannot back out of his enlistment. He has to break the news to her that he is already bound for the military, which directly leads to their hurried courthouse marriage before his deployment. When Cherry reveals he has enlisted in the army, Mona does not react with anger or rejection; instead, her feelings push them back together. Realizing her love for him and wanting to keep their relationship alive, she reunites with him and they decide to get married just before he ships out to basic training and is deployed to Iraq Army. Cherry and Mona marry at a courthouse just before his deployment. While serving in Iraq, Cherry phone calls Mona and those phone calls serve as his main emotional anchor back home. He thinks of her constantly. Cherry, masturbates in a military camp porta-potty while thinking of Mona. Even though he can only speak to Mona over the phone he is still super romantic and obsessed with her. He calls her baby and says all these sweet, flirty, and sexy things to her over the phone. When Cherry comes home he is a decorated veteran but struggles with unmanaged panic and trauma. Mona and Cherry go to the doctor where he is prescribed opioids, leading to a deep heroin and OxyContin addiction that Mona also shares. After a downward spiral of PTSD, drug addiction, and robbing banks, Cherry decides to end the destructive cycle. He tells a bank teller to hit the silent alarm, steps outside, takes one last drug dose, and calmly waits for the police. Cherry spends years in prison. He suffers through painful withdrawal, successfully detoxes, works out, and turns his life around. After serving his time and getting released on parole, Cherry walks out of the facility and sees Mona waiting for him. Both are clean, signaling a hopeful, redemptive new beginning.v