A man cuts down a tree and builds a rocking chair for his fiance, whom he soon marries. That rocking chair then becomes the center-piece as the couple build a family. The chair goes through transformations as it gets re-painted as it ages and repaired as it is damaged by children who eventually grow up and leave home. The parents get old and sell the house, throwing away the now withering rocking chair. Years go by as the world becomes more industrialized and modern. A man working security at a museum finds that same piece of discarded rocking chair and repairs it and starts using it at work where visiting kids take a liking to it and start to line up to have a chance to sit and rock on it, connecting several generations of complete strangers.