Dear Edward

At Newark Airport, the Adler family—Bruce and Jane, parents, and their sons, Jordan and Eddie, 15 and 12 respectively—go through security before their flight to Los Angeles. Bruce reorganizes his sons’ belongings in the security tray. Jordan refuses to go through the body scanner, opting instead for a pat-down. Once through security, Bruce and Jane argue about the incident; Jane reminds Bruce that he taught his son to be defiant, especially through their homeschooling.

Jordan’s pat-down holds up another passenger, Crispin Cox, an older man who is going to L.A. for cancer treatment. Other passengers wait at the gate, including Linda Stollen, a young woman who is leaving the Midwest for a new life, despite possibly being pregnant. A large Filipino woman named Florida walks around singing and wearing a dress with bells sewn into it; Benjamin Stillman is a soldier who notices upon his entry to the plane that people have become less celebratory of military members.

Businessman Mark Lassio sits in first class next to Jane. The rest of her family is further back in coach. After announcements from