Two young Mormons, John and Darla, meet one evening in a video outlet that rents "edited, cleaned-up" versions of movies. They hit it off, share a lot of time together, and some weeks later John proposes marriage. Darla explains that her parents have asked her to only marry a man who has served a religious mission for the LDS Church, and he immediately pledges to become a missionary to allow their dream of a future together to be possible. After 3 months in the mission field, John moves to a new apartment with three other elders. Elder White has just received a "Dear John" letter from his girlfriend after a year away from home. The other elders got their letters at 6 months and 8 months respectively. John tells them that he will never get such a letter, but back home Darla is showing off her wedding dress to her girlfriends the day before her marriage to somebody else, and is explaining about her "romance" with John. However, in her rationalization, John is a socially inept klutz.

When things are not going well for John Taylor, he reads his journal and reflects on his missionary life and his companion Elder Alma Johnson. They try to teach people about the gospel and want to give lessons, but the people are not interested. They do teach a lady named Melissa, but does not think she can be baptized. The other missionaries try to make life bearable by having fun and living together. Finally, Melissa learns the lessons of the gospel and knows the church is true and gets baptized.