Forrest Gump was born in Greenbow, Alabama. His mother is a strong-minded woman and determined to let the son live the same life as other people although Forrest's IQ is only 75. She often says to Forrest "stupid is as stupid does", while Forrest has a pure and loving heart.  

On the bus to school, Forrest and blond Jenny met. Jenny is a girl abused by her father. They become best friends. In their secondary school, in order to escape the villain schoolmates, Forrest Gump runs into a school's football game. Then he runs into the university. In the college, he becomes a rugby star and gets the chance to meet President Kennedy at the White House.  

After graduation from college, Forrest Gump is enlisted in the army and participated in the Vietnam War. In a battle, his platoon suffers an ambush. Forrest Gump remembers what Jenny told him to do and quickly runs out of the jungle. Then he thinks of his good friend Bubba and runs back to save Bubba risking his life. He rescues several lives before carrying Bubba out. Bubba is dead after telling Forrest that he wants to go home. The officer, Lieutenant Dan, is saved by Forrest but his legs get amputated.

Forrest Gump meets President Johnson as a war hero. In an anti-war rally, Forrest and Jane meet again. She has changed a lot and refuses Forrest's love. Then they go their own ways. Forrest Gump starts playing table tennis in the army and later plays on the American Ping-Pong team against Chinese players, which serves as the prelude to the establishment of the Sino-US diplomatic relations.

Forrest Gump promised Bubba to do shrimping business so he buys a boat and goes shrimping. Lieutenant Dan joins him and they make a fortune. Forrest comes home to stay with his mother who is very sick and soon dies of cancer. Dan deals with the business successfully and they become richer and richer. Forrest often misses Jenny. Meanwhile Jenny goes astray in despair. 

One day, Jenny comes back to live with Forrest for a while. Forrest proposes marriage but gets refused. Forrest puts the past behind by running across the country. Three years later Forrest gets a letter from Jenny and goes to visit her. He is at first shocked by what Jenny tells him—he is the father of her son—but loves them whole heartedly. When Jenny tells him that she has a fatal disease and wants to marry him, they go back home together, get married, and spend Jenny's last days in Greenbow. 

Jenny is dead. Their son comes to school age. When Forrest sees his son off on a school bus, a feather that has dropped from the book he gave his son blows up on the wind, just like the scene at the very beginning of the movie. 

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