For the Boys

In the early 1990s, retired Dixie Leonard is set to attend a Hollywood ceremony honoring her and Eddie Sparks. A young man from the TV show arrives to pick her up, and Dixie begins to recount what brought Eddie and her together—and what drove them apart. The majority of the film unfolds as an extended flashback.

Dixie receives an offer to entertain troops overseas as part of Eddie's act, marking the start of their partnership. She quickly becomes a hit with the men in uniform, winning over crowds with her sharp humor. Eddie resents the spotlight at first, feeling she steals his jokes.

Eddie wins Dixie over by reuniting her with her soldier husband on stage, a moment that demonstrates his influence on her career. Despite her initial dislike for him, fellow entertainers and her joke-writer uncle Art encourage her to stay. The public display solidifies their professional alliance, even if tensions remain.

As the war progresses, Dixie's husband dies in battle, leaving her a widow during a time of upheaval. She continues performing to support herself and their child, spending less time grieving and more on keeping the act afloat. Eddie remains a stubborn foil, yet also a reluctant guardian figure at times.

Back in the United States, Dixie keeps working with Eddie to support herself and her son Danny. Eddie is married with daughters, but he becomes a surrogate father to Danny, shaping the boy's early life and outlook. The duo's onstage chemistry masks ongoing personal tension between them.

When the Korean War breaks out, Eddie announces that he and Dixie will perform for U.S. troops there, without telling Dixie first. In retaliation, Dixie reveals Eddie made a $100,000 donation to the Red Cross, heightening their conflicts. The moment exposes a rift between loyalty to the act and personal pride.

The pair travels to the camp in Korea, where they encounter an ambushed unit. Dixie tends to a wounded soldier but cannot save him, and the emotional toll deepens their bond and mistrust. They end up spending the night together, revealing the complexity of their relationship.

Back home for Christmas, a fight erupts when Art accuses Eddie of being a communist sympathizer, revealing that Eddie had fired Art for political reasons. The revelation compounds the strain in the Dixie–Eddie dynamic and underscores the political tensions of the era. Dixie remains torn between loyalty to Eddie and her own principles.

Danny grows up to be a soldier himself, and he is deployed to Vietnam. At Art's suggestion, Dixie agrees to perform there for Christmas with Eddie, hoping to reconcile past wounds through the act. The personal stakes for Dixie are now tied to her son’s fate as well as the war's brutal reach.

On their way to the camp, the performers are warned that the camp could be attacked, and they are told to be flown out immediately after their performance. The tension heightens as the threat of violence looms over the holiday show. Dixie and Eddie prepare to face the crowd under extraordinary risk.

The show opens with a dancer being harassed by soldiers, and Eddie intervenes to prevent chaos. Dixie performs a cynical aside and then sings 'In My Life,' attempting to anchor meaning amid the tension. The camp is suddenly hit by a mortar barrage, forcing the performers to seek shelter.

Danny is killed right in front of Dixie and Eddie during the attack, leaving them devastated. They share a moment of profound grief as the war's toll becomes personal and undeniable. The trauma becomes the catalyst for the couple’s reckoning and reassessment of their relationship.

After a heated dressing-room argument, Eddie goes on stage alone; at the last moment, Dixie follows and joins him for one final song and dance. The performance culminates in a fragile reconciliation and a lasting acknowledgment of their mutual love. The film returns to the present as their bond is affirmed amid loss and memory.