Character Relationship Map: Running Against Time

Characters

• David Rhodes (played by Robert Hays) — protagonist

  David is a college history professor consumed by the death of his older brother, Chris, in Vietnam. He uses Koopman's time-travel device to try to prevent Kennedy's assassination and save Chris, but f...

• Lee Harvey Oswald (played by James DiStefano) — supporting

  Oswald is the assassin whose killing of President Kennedy David travels back to prevent. David fails to stop him, and Oswald frames David for the murder. David's knowledge of Oswald's life also compli...

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• David Rhodes → Lee Harvey Oswald (Conflict Adversary) — Oswald is the direct human obstacle to David's attempt to alter history.

  David attempts to prevent the assassination, but Oswald carries it out and frames David for the killing. Oswald later shoots David after David is iden...

Story Analysis

A grieving historian tries to rewrite political history, only to learn that personal hope may emerge through unintended consequences.

Plot Progression

1. The Wound That Opens Time — David's obsession with his brother's death leads him to discover completed time-travel research. He chooses to intervene in a presidential assassination to change the Vietnam War.
2. The Failed Intervention — David arrives in Dallas but cannot prevent the assassination. He is framed, questioned, and killed after his unexplained knowledge makes him appear suspicious.
3. A Second Attempt — Reports of David's death inspire another journey into the past. The second traveler is injured, escapes medical custody, and helps David avoid capture without changing the assassination.
4. The Cost of Alteration — The travelers prove their origins to the past scientist, but their warning produces a harsher war instead of peace. David also confronts the consequences of existing in two times.
5. A Future Rewritten — The scientist persuades the travelers to stop interfering with history. David visits his brother, returns to the present, and discovers that his brother survived by avoiding enlistment.