It's a Wonderful Life: Plot Summary

It’s a Wonderful Life is a story of passionate, quick developing love with dark dilemmas that engulf on family man Georgia Bailey’s life. The movie starts off with an angel in the sky needing to earn his wings and given the task of saving Georgia Bailey from taking his own life.

The movie portrays constant highs and lows that George Bailey experiences including a high of marrying the love of his life, Mary, whom he had known since he was a boy, and their love rekindled at his kid brother’s high school graduation party. Lows in George bailey’s life however, are experienced much more during the movie such as; not being able to execute his dream of going off to college because the death of his father forces him to stay in Bedford Falls and continue in his fathers footsteps at their family bank, resulting in George giving his college funds to his little brother; suddenly having the great depression crash down on his business and having to use his honeymoon money ($2000 to be exact) as a way of paying the members of his bank; having a large sum of money that was supposed to be kept at the bank stolen from his employee by a real-estate investor who had always been after his families business; and lastly, after all of these dilemmas, attempting to commit suicide because of his deep depression that all of these factors have caused over time.

After George’s attempt at suicide, his guardian angel saves him and shows him what it would be like if he were never born. George realizes that Mary would have never married and would have been a maid, the town would have been completely owned and ruined by the evil investor, and people that positively impacted George’s life were now considered “degenerates” in the town because George was never there to assist them when they needed it in the past.

It’s a Wonderful Life ends with George Bailey realizing that all of the problems he was going through were trumped by his love for his wife and children and his deep-rooted love for Bedford Falls after all. The guardian angel gives him a second chance on earth and brings George back to life, returning the town to the condition it was in when he tried killing himself, resulting in him receiving his wings for completing his task!