http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrzyan-7kgw
This is Gart Williams, age thirty-eight, a man protected by a suit of armor all held together by one bolt. Just a moment ago, someone removed the bolt, and Mr. Williams' protection fell away from him and left him a naked target. He's been cannonaded this afternoon by all the enemies of his life. His insecurity has shelled him, his sensitivity has straddled him with humiliation, his deep-rooted disquiet about his own worth has zeroed in on him, landed on target, and blown him apart. Mr. Gart Williams, ad agency exec, who in just a moment will move into the Twilight Zone— in a desperate search for survival.
Gart Williams is an overstressed New York advertising executive who has grown exasperated with his career. His overbearing boss, Oliver Misrell, angered by the loss of a major account, lectures him about this "push-push-push" business. Unable to sleep properly at home, he drifts off for a short nap on the train during his daily commute through the November snow.
He wakes to find the train stopped, and changed into a 1880s railcoach, deserted except for himself. The sun is bright outside, and as he looks out the window, he discovers that the train is in Willoughby, and that it's July 1888! He learns that this is a "peaceful, restful place, where a man can slow down to a walk and live his life full measure." Being jerked back awake in the real world, he asks the conductor about Willoughby. There is no such town on any rail timetable, and never has been.
That night, he has one more argument with his shrewish wife, Jane. Selfish, cold and uncaring, she makes him see that he is only a money machine to her. He tells her about his dream, and about Willoughby, only to have her ridicule him as being "born too late", declaring her "miserable error" in life was marrying a man "whose big dream in life is to be Huckleberry Finn!!".
The next week, Williams again dozes off on the train and returns to Willoughby, where everything is the same as before. As he is about to get off the train carrying his briefcase, it begins to roll, he returns to the present, and promises himself to get off the next time he is in the village.
Experiencing a breakdown at work, he calls his wife, who abandons him in his time of need. On his way home, once again he falls asleep, to find himself in Willoughby. This time, the conductor warmly beckons him to the door, and Williams discards his briefcase.
Getting off the train, he is greeted by name by various of the inhabitants, who welcome him while he tells them that he's glad to be there and plans to stay and join their idyllic life.
The swinging pendulum of the station clock fades into the swinging lantern of a train engineer, standing over Williams' body. The modern-day conductor explains that Williams "shouted something about Willoughby," just before jumping off of the train, and was killed instantly. "Poor fellah", the engineer mumbles, as the conductor nods in agreement.
His body is loaded into a hearse, and as the back door closes, we see that it was sent by the Willoughby & Son Funeral Home.
Willoughby? Maybe it's wishful thinking nestled in a hidden part of a man's mind, or maybe it's the last stop in the vast design of things, or perhaps, for a man like Mr. Gart Williams, who climbed on a world that went by too fast, it's a place around the bend where he could jump off. Willoughby? Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity, and is a part of the Twilight Zone.
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