Corporate Myopia

Corporate Myopia opens to a dark chapter in U.S. history, when World War II was festering and large U.S. corporations jockeying for ever-spiraling profits from a war machine of unprecedented magnitude. It is a fictional account of how an American family's struggles and triumphs from that period to the postwar era affect the lives of those around them, setting the stage for the widening disparity we see today between the common people and the high and mighty.

Set in an upscale suburban neighborhood in Connecticut, the story revolves around Roger Durand, the well-to-do CEO of a major corporation, and his coming-of-age daughter, Kimberly, who falls in love with Carl Emerson, a man of far lesser means.

Carl and Douglas Graf, an old high school buddy and former rival for Kim's affection, join the U.S. Army Air Corps at the start of the war. Douglas becomes a German P.O.W. early on. Carl is later shot down over Bremerhaven and captured in Holland. By a strange act of fate, the two end up in the same prison and escape together, utilizing a plot so bizarre, the Germans never discover how it was done.

The long-term association between Douglas and Carl amid their unique circumstances forges a friendship that overrides the obvious contrast between their personalities and the disparity between the hand that fortune has dealt each of them. While war's end brings prosperity and marriage to Douglas, Carl encounters numerous obstacles, not the least of which is his pride and determination to stand on his own feet, despite the affluence of his prospective in-laws.

After years of toil, Carl lands a lucrative position to put him on sound enough financial footing to propose marriage to the beautiful Kimberly Durand, now a successful young college professor and the love of his life. With the enthusiastic consent of parents on both sides, the marriage seems destined for success. But it's Roger Durand's long term business myopia, questionable ethics, and willful manner in running his corporation that ultimately jeopardizes his daughter's wedding and her future with the man she loves.