The History of Us

In a Boston pub, Lionel Worthing and David White instantly connect over their shared love of folk music. They return to David's apartment where their bond deepens as they share songs and companionship. The night marks the beginning of a lifelong connection shaped by music and longing.

Because of Lionel's eyesight, he is deemed ineligible for military service and returns to Kentucky when the conservatory closes. He sets music aside to help run the family farm after his father's sudden death. The move isolates him from his studies as the world moves toward war.

In 1919, Lionel receives a letter from David announcing his return from Europe, a new job at a Maine college, and a funded trip to collect folk songs on wax cylinders. David invites Lionel to accompany him, and they travel across Maine gathering songs from diverse communities. The journey rekindles their relationship as they work together.

The pair renews their romance while continuing to collect folk songs across Maine on wax cylinders. They grow closer through shared work, songs, and moments of intimacy, reinforcing their partnership. Eventually, David must return to work, and Lionel plans to travel to Europe.

Lionel and David correspondence continues for a time, but Lionel stops writing after a year when he never receives a reply. The silence marks a growing distance between them, even as memories linger through songs. The absence of response leaves their plans unresolved.

In 1923, Lionel, speaking to his lover Luca in Rome, confesses his dissatisfaction with singing in a local choir. He reveals a new job at the University of Oxford and ends their relationship. The decision marks a turning point toward wider horizons and unsettled loves.

A year after Rome, Lionel conducts for the Oxford choir and becomes involved with Clarissa Roux, a socialite who invites him to meet her family at their countryside manor. On the trip, memories of David overwhelm him, rekindling emotions and doubts about his choices. His relationship with Clarissa ends when he must urgently return to the United States to comfort his dying mother.

With his family affairs in order, Lionel travels back to the United States to be with his dying mother and to reorient his life. The visit sharpens his sense of responsibility and deepens the distance from the life he left behind in Europe. He prepares for whatever comes next as he tends to his family's needs.

After caring for his family, Lionel travels to Maine to find David, only to learn from a colleague that David had died sometime after their trip and that the wax-cylinder project was never commissioned. The cylinders' whereabouts become uncertain, and Lionel is told to contact David's widow Belle. The revelation shifts Lionel from pursuit to mourning and reflection.

Lionel meets Belle, David's widow, who reveals she understood their relationship and how David's death was a suicide tied to shell shock. She returns Lionel's letters and offers to send the cylinders if they can be found. The encounter closes a chapter of mystery by naming the missing pieces of their shared history.

Lionel mourns David by revisiting the places of their youth and recounting a number of songs that bonded them, especially The Unquiet Grave. The act of remembering sustains his attachment to the past and to the music that connected them. His recollections are a quiet, personal memorial.

In 1980, Lionel, now an ethnomusicologist, receives a package of wax cylinders and a new book. One recording, made on the day of David's death, contains David's apology, gratitude, and a haunting rendition of Silver Dagger. The cylinder ties together their lifelong music and memory.