I'll Be Home for Christmas is a 1988 American made-for-television Christmas drama film directed and produced by Marvin J. Chomsky. The film, which stars Hal Holbrook and Eva Marie Saint, deals with the lives and relationships of a Massachusetts family during the final Christmas of World War II. Plot Set in 1944 Rockport, Massachusetts during the final moments of World War II, I'll Be Home for Christmas focuses on the Bundy family. Head of the family Joseph (Hal Holbrook) and his wife Martha (Eva Marie Saint) await the return of their grown children, who include Mike (Whip Hubley), who has completed all of his combat missions in England and is due to come home for good. His pregnant wife Nora (Courteney Cox) has been living with the Bundys since his departure, and is now awaiting her husband's return while preparing to give birth to their first child, hoping it won't be born until Mike arrives. She eventually gives birth to a baby boy. Mike's younger brother Terrel (Jason Oliver) is currently in between boot camp and an overseas assignment, and has been at odds with his father his entire life. Meanwhile, the family's only daughter Leah (Nancy Travis) is on a bus home to Rockport, shortly after the violent death of her fiance, when she meets soldier Aaron Copler (Peter Gallagher), who has nowhere else to go for the holidays. They feel attracted to each other, which leads to an invite for Aaron to spend Christmas with the Bundy clan. Completing the family portrait is 13-year-old Davey (David Moscow), the youngest son who hopes for the war to last for years until he is old enough to experience the action. Another character dominant in the story is Isaiah Cawley (Charles Tyner), a man of the Western Union who delivers telegrams informing people of their loved ones lost overseas. In a sub-plot regarding Joseph and Martha, the couple stretch their savings and ration stamps to obtain the best trimmings for Christmas dinner, only to be informed by Isaiah of the death of Mike because of a plane crash on Christmas Eve. Cast Hal Holbrook as Joseph Bundy Eva Marie Saint as Martha Bundy Nancy Travis as Leah Bundy Peter Gallagher as Aaron Copler Jason Oliver as Terrel Bundy David Moscow as Davey Bundy Courteney Cox as Nora Bundy Charles Tyner as Isaiah Cawley Whip Hubley as Mike Bundy Production The film