In the year 1981, Forrest Gump is sitting on a bench in Savannah, Georgia. People sit next to him on the bench from time to time, and he tells them the story of his life.
Forrest grows in Greenbow, Alabama. He is being raised by a single mother, who earns money for living by renting rooms for guests. Little Forrest has back problems, so he has to wear orthopedic braces. In addition, his IQ is only 75, and this is not sufficient for admission to the regular school. Through the efforts of the mother (she had sexual intercourse with the school principal) Forrest does manage to get there. At school, he meets Jenny Curran and she becomes his only friend.
Forrest loses the braces on his feet in elementary school – they have broken while he was running away from bullies. In the senior class he was subjected to persecution again, Forrest accidentally rushes into the stadium, where the game of American football is being played. Coach Paul Bryant notices Gump’s amazing running speed and takes him to the team of the University of Alabama. So Forrest becomes a student. Because of his speed, he stands for the football team of the University so well that he becomes one of the best amateur athletes of USA.
After graduation, Gump was drafted into the army. In the training camp, he meets with Benjamin Baffardom Blue, nicknamed Bubba. They become friends. Bubba persuaded Forrest to open a shrimp fishery business after the war. Both were sent to the war in Vietnam. In Vietnam Forest wrote letters to Jenny. Then his platoon was ambushed by partisans; Gump saves a half of the platoon by carrying the wounded soldiers from the battlefield (including Lt. Dan, who’s legs were amputated as a result of injuries), but Bubba dies. Forrest gets injured himself during these events, he was sent to the hospital and did not returned to the battlefield. In the U.S., he gets a Medal of Honor out of the hands of President Lyndon, the highest military award of the country.
After demobilization, Gump signs the contract with the manufacturer of rackets for table tennis, which gives him enough income to open a shrimp fishery company. Forrest buys a ship for this purpose, and Lt. Dan learned becomes a sailor on that ship. At first things don’t go well, but with the help of the “Carmen” hurricane, which destroyed the U.S. coast, Forrest turns out as a monopolist for catching shrimps and becomes rich quickly. Gump totally trusts his assistant in financial affairs, and Lt. Dan successfully invests the funds “… in some fruit company …”, in fact – in a computer company called Apple.
After he heard that his mother is dying, Forrest arrives in Greenbow. After she died (of cancer), he remains in Greenbow.
Once Jenny arrives and stops at the Forrest. Forrest does Jenny supply. She rejects him, but spends Forrest night and the next morning leaving. The same day, Gump solves a run, and it turns into a long jogging run through the United States. For more than three years, he crossed the country several times, attracting a large following and becoming famous.
At this point, a story of Forrest, sitting on the bench, ends. To his last listener, he said that Jenny saw him on TV and sent him a letter, so he came to Savannah. Forrest found Jenny in an apartment, where she lives with her young son. The boy is the son of Forrest, and he is named after him. Jenny says that she is infected with some virus, and there is no cure for this virus. The three of them returned to Alabama. Forrest and Jenny got married, Lieutenant Dan and after some time, Jenny dies.
In the last scene of the movie Forrest and Forrest Jr. await the school bus, which is to take the hero’s son to school. The bus comes and Forrest Jr. leaves.
Forrest loves his mom, loves Ginny and loves the country. The movie shows how important is the life of one person in the whole country. Forrest taught Elvis how to dance, coined the slogan “Shit Happens”, directed John Lennon to create the song, participated in anti-war rallies, was a football player, a player in a ping-pong game and became a billionaire. Such things are possible only in the U.S. Forrest has a great mind and entrepreneurial spirit, he is just makes a good man and fate gives him presents for his kindness.