A man named Eric Blankenship (Bruce Willis) has basically hit rock bottom. He lost his job, his wife left him, he lost his house, all those cliche events. When Eric is on his way to kill himself by jumping off of a bridge, he is stopped by a child (actor not selected) when the boy asks "What are you doing mister?" After Eric tells him the truth about what he is planning to do, the kid wants to convince Eric and show him there that it is not worth killing yourself and how great life really is.
(The theme starts out as very depressing, starts to rise into happiness again, then plumits into deep sadness.) The kid shows him some cute places like a family sitting together eating dinner, but Eric always replies with "Thats why" but does not explain the reasons for saying it. The kid also has a list of his heros in a poster-like form. They are immature and childish heros like all kids would select like basketball players, actors, super heros etc...then Eric shows his first smile almost as if he remebers something special.
It turns out Eric has debt sharks coming after him since he blew all his money and commited some evil acts since he was just going to kill himself anyway. Eric and the kid are now on the run from these men since Eric does not have any money so they are just going to end up killing him. After a few dramatic scenes, Eric is cornered by Kreig (Dustin Hoffman), a well-known crime shark. Krieg fires at Eric but the kid runs infront of the bullet and takes it for Eric. The police arrive after hearing the racket and gun-fire and Kreig flees.
The kid is dying in his arms and whispers his last words to him..."Look in my pocket...my name is Mike Blankenship" and he dies. Inside of his pocket was what seems like Mike as a baby, but Eric and his former wife were holding him. A flashback occurs which shows Mike's mother dying of illness and telling Mike that "you must go live with your father...I don't want you to be alone". Before she dies, she gives Mike a picture of his father and address and then he begins his search for his father.
When the kid arrives at the bridge near the father's house, he is so exicted to see his father (while looking at the picture) then he notices the man on the bridge. When Eric goes back to Mike's shack he was living in while with Eric, he notices that all the pictures on Mike's heros poster was taken off and all that remained was a picture of Eric with the words "Better than I expected" under it. Eric falls to his knees in tears and vows to live on for Mike's sake.
