Tommy

A montage follows Group Captain Walker and Nora's honeymoon in 1945 as he departs for a bomber mission. He is shot down and listed as missing in action, presumed dead, while unknown to his family the badly burned Walker is still alive. Nora gives birth to their son Tommy on V-E Day, marking a new chapter despite the looming absence of Tommy's father.

Five years after Tommy's birth, Nora begins a relationship with Frank, a holiday worker they meet at a camp. Tommy starts to look up to Frank as an 'Uncle' figure and even voices a dream of running his own holiday camp someday. The family dynamic shifts as hopes for the future take shape.

On New Year's Eve, Frank returns to Nora and Tommy's home and murders Captain Walker. The act is witnessed by Tommy via the reflection in a mirror, prompting Nora and Frank to coerce him into silence. The shock triggers Tommy's first dissociative state, an otherworldly 'Amazing Journey' that will haunt him for years.

At a Christmas party, Nora frets that Tommy 'doesn't know what day it is' as the world seems to blur for him. The family tries to maintain appearances while Tommy's dissociative state deepens, revealing the emotional trauma at the heart of his condition.

Over more than sixteen years, Nora and Frank bounce between therapies and neglect in desperate attempts to bring Tommy back. They seek help from a faith healer ('Eyesight to the Blind') and even a drug dealer ('The Acid Queen'), while leaving him with questionable babysitters ('Cousin Kevin' / 'Fiddle About'). None of these efforts end the isolation he experiences.

Tommy wanders from neglect to a junkyard where a vision lures him to a pinball machine. He begins to play with a prodigy’s focus, his sensory impairment paradoxically heightening his perception of the game. Frank and the media soon recognize him as a remarkable pinball talent.

Tommy's pinball prowess becomes a televised sensation as he dominates championships, with The Who providing the backing band during the breakthrough moments. The public revels in his skill while his mother and stepfather watch with mixed pride and unease. The spectacle marks the start of Tommy's transfer from trauma to triumph in the public eye.

A doctor concludes Tommy's state is emotionally triggered, proposing that he must keep facing his reflection to stay connected to reality. Go to the Mirror! becomes a turning point, and Nora, overwhelmed, pushes Tommy through the mirror. He snaps back to life with a reinvigorated sense of self as he proclaims 'I'm Free'.

Tommy's experiences broaden into a public gospel-like mission as he delivers glam-rock lectures and spreads a message of enlightenment. He travels with hang gliders and gathers followers, while Nora and Frank ride the wave of fame and fortune that his awakening brings.

Tommy's following grows and the house becomes crowded with converts who want more than inspiration; Tommy expands into a formal campus, opening an extension dubbed 'Tommy's Holiday Camp.' The operation blends spiritual fervor with commercial ambition, drawing increasing attention and tension.

The converts demand something useful from Tommy, and he answers by artificially deafening, muting, and blinding everyone. The demonstration escalates into a riot, Nora and Frank are killed, and the camp burns to the ground. Tommy discovers the wreckage, mourns his parents, and flees into the mountains.

Tommy finds his parents among the debris and mourns their loss before fleeing to the mountains. He climbs a peak where they once celebrated their honeymoon and raises his face to the rising sun, completing his arc from victim to enigmatic, world-shaping figure as the song repeats its title.