Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the quantum leap accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.

8 1/2 Months

• Sam finds himself on a gurney being rushed through the halls of a hospital.
• Once he arrives in the delivery room and sees the stirrups, he panics.
• When he sees himself in the mirror, it all becomes clear.
• Sam has leapt into the life of a very pregnant woman who was apparently in labor up until the moment Sam took over.
• November 15, 1955
• In Sam’s panic, the nurses call him Billie Jean and he pins himself between the wall and the gurney, refusing the let the doctor put his feet up in the stirrups.
• Sam yells at them, saying that there’s no way this baby is coming now.
• Once things have calmed down, the doctor asks how far apart the contractions are and Sam says they’ve stopped.
• As far as Sam’s water breaking, that hasn’t happened.
• So they chalk it up to false labor.
• Sam’s internal monologue fills us in on what he’s learned about Billie Jean.
• She’s only 16 and is currently staying with her friend Dotty because her parents kicked her out when she got pregnant.
• Unbelievably, Sam looks like he’s feeling the effects of being nearly 9 months pregnant.
• At Dotty’s house, which doubles as a beauty parlor, they’re met with an angry old woman whose hair has turned purple.
• Apparently when Dotty left with Billie Jean for the hospital, they had to leave Leola’s hair up.
• Effy, a young black girl who helps out around the salon offered to take Leola’s hair down when it was time.
• Another customer confirms that Leola is a racist old biddy who wouldn’t let Effy touch her hair.
• Leola blames Billie Jean for what happened, calling her a harlot, and swears she’ll never step foot in Dotty’s place again.
• Dotty’s boyfriend, Keeter, also blames Billie Jean and yells at Sam.
• Al arrives in time for Sam to go into the other room to put his feet up… since they’re starting to swell.
• Apparently, in the future, Billie Jean was still in labor and it took the entire staff at the project to get the labor stopped.
• Which brings up the question: what happens if Billie Jean gives birth in the future?
• Al confirms that Ziggy is really concerned about that, saying that when Billie Jean leaps back into her own life, the baby may be left behind.
• Sam then becomes concerned about Billie Jean losing her baby, but Al says that happens anyway, since she put the baby up for adoption in the original history.
• Billie Jean regretted that decision and spent the rest of her life trying to find her child.
• So does that mean Sam is here to change that?
• Then Al brings up the possibility that he may have the baby before he leaps… but how is that possible?
• Sam is a man and he is not carrying a baby…
• But apparently Sam’s brainwaves are connecting with Billie Jean’s in the future and they’re both connecting with the baby… and Sam’s mood swings are having an effect.
• Sam finds out from Al where Billie Jean’s father is and decides to go visit him the next day, trying to see if he’ll help his daughter with raising the baby.
• Apparently Bob and Dotty have a history and Bob really doesn’t want anything to do with Billie Jean.
• Dotty convinces Bob to at least hear what his daughter had to say and Sam follows him inside.
• Sam tells Bob that he’s decided to keep the baby and Bob says the only way Billie Jean can keep that baby is to get help from whoever knocked her up in the first place.
• Bob insists that Billie Jean needs to marry the father of the baby, but Sam says that being pregnant is not necessarily enough of a reason to get married.
• Bob then refuses to call the baby his grandchild and won’t allow Billie Jean to return home unless she gets rid of the baby.
• Later, back at Dotty’s, an adoption agent comes to visit with Billie Jean, bringing the adoption papers to be signed.
• Sam has to let her know that he’s changed his mind about giving up the baby.
• She tries to convince her that adoption is the right option and is what’s best for the child, but Sam won’t be convinced.
• Once the adoption agent leaves, Dotty sees how sad Sam is and tries to cheer him up.
• She put her hands on Sam’s stomach and feels the baby kick… and so does Sam.
• How in the world does Sam feel the baby kick?!
• Al comes back and is unconvinced because there’s no way Sam could feel that baby kick because the baby is 40 years in the future with Billie Jean.
• But Sam is convinced now that the baby stayed behind when Sam leaped in and Billie Jean leaped out.
• In thinking about how to help Billie Jean keep the baby, Sam suggests that Dotty could help out.
• Al says that if Dotty had wanted to help Billie Jean and the baby long term, it would have happened in the original history and there would have been no reason for Sam to leap in.
• Sam makes the mistake of bringing up this idea with Dotty in front of Keeter, even though Al warns him to handle it very carefully.
• Dotty tries to talk to Sam about the decision to keep the baby and Keeter keeps interjecting that there’s no way Billie Jean can take care of a baby without a husband or a job… says she shouldn’t have gotten pregnant in the first place.
• Then Sam suggests that Dotty could help with the baby, which sends Keeter out the door.
• Of course, Dotty blames Sam for Keeter leaving, saying that if she agreed to let Billie Jean and the baby stay that he would be gone in a heartbeat.
• Al just confirms that Keeter’s going to leave anyway and that he never marries Dotty.
• Dotty points out all that she’s done for Billie Jean, gets increasingly upset, and says she won’t give up her entire life for her and the baby before storming off.
• That leaves only the father of the baby as an option for helping at this point, but Sam wonders out loud where he could possibly be.
• Then Effy strolls in and says that Willis is probably walking home from work about now.
• Effy tells Sam that it would be a mistake to marry Willis just to keep the baby, knowing that Billie Jean doesn’t really love him.
• Sam and Al head down the road to meet Willis and get into it over whether or not this is a good idea.
• Frustrated, Sam suggests that Al go back to the future and find the older version of Billie Jean and find out what she would have done differently after spending a lifetime trying to find her baby.
• They finally catch sight of Willis and see that not only is he just a kid as young as Billie Jean, but he works for Billie Jean’s father, meaning it’s no wonder that she never told who the father of the baby was.
• Willis says that she should have gotten an abortion.
• Then he goes on to say he can’t help because he’s the first one in his family to go to college… he can’t give up his scholarship.
• Upset, Willis fusses at Sam about being unable to help financially with a baby.
• Sam says he should have thought about that before he made one… but Willis points out that he wasn’t alone…
• Willis runs off, leaving Sam alone to collapse in the dirt when contractions start.
• He manages to get back to Dotty’s as she’s trying to change a flat tire… so she can’t get drive to the hospital.
• Dotty has Effy call the hospital and Billie’s dad, but there’s been an accident and the doctor is tied up dealing with that.
• Effy tried both of Bob’s numbers and can’t get hold of him.
• Dotty tries calling Keeter at a local bar but he refuses to help, so she basically tells him if he doesn’t come home now he better not come back ever.
• Keeter just hangs up on her.
• That’s fine… what kind of name is Keeter, anyway?
• Sorry to any Keeters out there reading this post…
• Effy flags down a ride to the oil fields where Bob works and convinces him to come with her.
• Dotty manages to get the flat tire changed and drives Sam to the hospital.
• Al arrives and keeps saying it’s impossible for Sam to have contractions, saying it’s happening in his imagination.
• Sam says he’s not having the baby until Billie Jean’s father gets there.
• Bob finally arrives and Sam tells him again that he wants to keep the baby.
• Al then says he’s gotten word from the waiting room… the baby has disappeared from Billie Jean’s womb.
• Dotty convinces Bob to help Billie Jean with the baby.
• Al says that Bob marries Dotty and they help Billie Jean raise the baby.
• Just as the doctor tells Sam to push, Sam leaps…
• Into someone dressed in futuristic clothing next to an older man, similarly dressed, who orders Sam to activate the time machine…
• Oh boy.