Our Town is a play by Thornton Wilder that revolves around life in the small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. It is considered one of the greatest American plays. Specifically, the play focuses around the lives of George and Emily as they come together, only to be separated in the end.

When the play begins, George and Emily are teenaged neighbors and good friends, as are their parents. Over time, a romance is kindled between them, which culminates in marriage. As this happens, the Stage Manager narrates, explains things to the audience, and comments on things as they occur, so the audience will have a better context of the times and ways of the Corners. The audience is able to see a young, vibrant, and hardworking lower-middle class America that is honorable, moral, and unfailingly kind. Much of the play thus is familiar to modern Americans, but so much of it is lost as well. Ultimately, George and Emily have children, but Emily dies giving birth to her second. Emily then comes and stands among the spirits in the cemetery. She realizes just how precious and valuable life truly is and how the living do not understand it.