Appointment On Route 17 - Plot

Plot

Tom Bennett, a rather callous, ruthless businessman, returns to his office after becoming the recipient of a heart transplant. At the party given to celebrate his return, he wants it ended quickly as he becomes embarrassed at the attention. Tom turns his attention to a building his firm is contracted to building and during a meeting to discuss it, he suddenly acts odd, at least to his colleagues, Spence and Julie. He suddenly becomes obsessed in buying a pair of boots. He then buys his colleague, Julie, a hot dog for lunch and they take a walk on a beach. They run into a sad looking young woman to whom he is instantly drawn. Later, at the office, he orders his secretary to order some plants for the office, to which she comments that he always hated plants before.

On a drive through the city with his other colleague, Spence, looking for a place to eat, they end up leaving the city and finding a little run-down diner. This diner just happens to be the workplace of the woman he ran into at the beach. The woman, Mary Jo, is mystified and can't understand his instant attraction to her. He's persistent, but she rejects his forwardness. Her friend at work tries to talk her into accepting his offer of dinner. Julie, who has had an on again-off again relationship with Tom, gets jealous and confronts Tom about his obsession with this waitress who won't have anything to do with him. When he tries again, Tom is told by her work friend that Mary Jo is still grieving for her boyfriend, Jamie Adler, who died in a car accident.

When Mary Jo finally talks to Tom, she explains how she and Jamie knew each other since they were kids and they always knew they'd be together. They were making plans to get married when the accident occurred. She tells him that someone received his heart and Tom realizes that it was Jamie's heart that he received for his transplant. At work, Tom begins slipping in his "sharklike" attitude towards business, but he doesn't seem to care. The next day, Tom drives up to the diner, dressed in jeans and t-shirt, in a pick-up truck. He sits and waits for her all night. She finally decides to go over and talk to him. He tells her about his heart transplant. He confesses that before the transplant he was not a nice person, but now he has been given a second chance. Tom says he will wait for her as long as it takes. He orders her favorite dessert for her and she asks how he knew. He just shrugs and smiles, promising that he will be there for her, just like Jamie...