Bottled Up

Ron Perkins, a Marine captain, has been home from the war in Rakistan for six weeks, having lost the use of one hand after being shot. Instead of rejoining life, he spends his days on the couch playing video games while his wife, Carla, works. When Carla gently pushes him to stop sulking and face his new life, an argument breaks out that halts abruptly when their daughter Bridget walks in. Bridget is convinced she knows the real source of the tension in the house: her younger brother Wyatt's new Christian faith. She asks him to quit going to church, but Wyatt, whom she finds doing his fractions homework while standing on his head, refuses. Their mom said he didn't have to stop, and their dad has never actually asked him to.

Frustrated, Bridget escapes to Whit's End, where Whit is trying without success to interest anyone in his newly invented flavor, marshmallow pear ice cream. Bridget tells him that church is causing problems in her family and asks what the point of Christianity is if it doesn't make you happy. Whit explains that happiness isn't the goal - holiness is, along with freedom from sin and unity with God. He also gently observes that anger seems to be home base for Bridget, with everyone in her family as a target. As she leaves, he tells her, "Anger doesn't have to be the place you always end up."

Back home, a surprise visitor arrives: Lucas Starr, a private from Ron's squad, on leave and stopping by to see how his captain is doing. Over the family's questions, a painful secret comes out that Ron has never told them: his best friend Tony was killed in the line of duty. Ron pulls Lucas outside, where the truth behind their broken friendship spills into the open. Lucas disobeyed one of Ron's direct orders, and at the hearing afterward he stuck to bare facts instead of coming to Ron's defense. Lucas insists he did the right thing and was frightened, believing he might be on trial for murder, but Ron coldly orders him to skip dinner and leave town. After Lucas goes, Ron explodes in front of the family: Tony is dead because Lucas disobeyed him, and what made Lucas "weak" was his Christian faith - he even prayed to ask God whether Ron's urgent order was right. Carla suddenly understands why Ron has been uneasy about Wyatt going to church. Shaken, Ron leaves to take a walk and pick up pie for dessert.

Bridget seizes on the revelation to pressure Wyatt again, arguing that religion is pulling apart their family and their dad's friendships. Wyatt answers that he already tried not being a Christian and only ended up gorging on cheese doodles; his faith is part of him now, like his right hand. Bridget pointedly replies that Lucas's beliefs are exactly why their dad has to live without his. Troubled, Wyatt goes to Whit's End and asks whether Christianity really divides people. Surprisingly, Whit agrees that it can - Jesus himself warned that families would be divided over him - but the truth of Jesus also sets people free, and few things are more beautiful than believers united. It isn't Wyatt's job to make his dad believe, Whit says; that's God's job. Wyatt's job is to live out his faith with love, patience, and prayer. That gives Wyatt an idea, and he asks for Whit's help.

Meanwhile, at Hal's Diner, Ron runs into Lucas again - his flight doesn't leave until the next day. When Ron sees him duck his head and learns Lucas was praying for the Perkins family, something snaps. Shouting, "I don't want your prayers!" Ron punches him. Horrified at himself, Ron apologizes, and Lucas refuses to let anyone call the police. Ron comes home with a bleeding hand, and as Carla tries to bandage it, he insists on applying the ointment himself, listing all the impossible things he did as a Marine - climbing a sheer cliff, walking through a sandstorm, carrying his best friend on his back for a mile under enemy fire. But he can't do this one small task, and he finally, humbly, asks Carla for help. She reminds him that he isn't an active Marine anymore: he's a husband and a father to two great kids, and his family needs him back.

Just then Wyatt staggers in hauling four gallons of Whit's marshmallow pear ice cream and calls everyone to the living room for family ice cream night - no dishes, everyone eating straight from the tub, because that's what families do. "I just want to hang out with my family tonight," he pleads, and one by one they give in. The ice cream turns out to be dreadful - Ron declares it worse than anything he ate in Rakistan, and Wyatt announces, "This should be an illegal dessert." But as the whole family laughs and groans together over the terrible flavor, the tension in the Perkins house finally begins to melt.