From the battlefields of Vietnam to the coalmines of Utah, "Melanie" explores both the tragedy of war and the dangers of longwall coal mining. But beyond these two contrasts lies a passionate love story.

In Part I, Tom Ire returns to Oakville, Utah, after twelve years in the Navy and two tours of duty in Vietnam. He is welcomed home as a hero, but with both parents now dead, and the horror of Vietnam still fresh in his memory, starting over is not that easy. Heartache and tragedy seem to follow him.

In Part II Melanie, Tom's daughter, is caught up in the world of a small coal-mining...