His ticket out of Podunk, or in this case, Portland, he decides, will be his skill as an orator. After some training in the school of hard knocks, the world of employment as a chef in a strip club, Richard finally makes his way toward the big time — a shot at a scholarship on a renowned college debate team.

But then, when the audition doesn't go so well, Richard takes another detour, a tour of duty in Vietnam where, again, he perseveres. When his life as a good soldier is cut short, and he returns to the Oregon college town with a genuine disability, Richard discovers that in a weird way, the detour was a necessary one.

Because through all his tribulations, Richard sees that power to communicate is still very strong in him. He has lost his hearing, so he learns to read lips. He goes back to school and shows Dr. Padrow, the academic who rejected him, that he did have something to say. By developing a close relationship with the outrageously intelligent Art, a brilliant man with cerebral palsy who has some difficulty attending classes in the days before accessibility, Richard becomes acutely aware of the challenges facing people with disabilities.

He takes Art to a restaurant to celebrate a birthday, only to be met with the disdain of the eatery's staff, who refuse to serve them because of what they declare is Art's deformity.

His own sense of outrage at the ignorance and insensitivity of the outside world galvanizes Richard to embark on what is to become his life's mission. His hearing disorder can be fixed with a sophisticated new hearing aid. His facile way with words and his endearing personality prove once again to be a ticket to gainful employment. But some of his fellow disabled veterans, he finds, are not so lucky, and the process by which he begins to solve their problems and to change peoples' perceptions toward the disabled community proves to be Richard's route to a far greater destiny – one of public service as a champion of the rights of the disabled and ultimately one of the primary activists behind the Americans with Disabilities Act.