Character Relationship Map: Somewhere in Time

Characters

• Richard Collier (played by Christopher Reeve) — protagonist

  A successful playwright who, after seeing a 1912 photograph of Elise McKenna, becomes obsessed and uses self-suggestion to travel back in time. He falls in love with Elise, but a modern penny in his p...

• Elise McKenna (played by Jane Seymour) — protagonist

  An early-20th-century stage actress and Richard's love interest. In 1912 she falls in love with him after he pursues her. As an elderly woman in 1972, she gives Richard the gold pocket watch and plead...

• William Fawcett 'W.F.' Robinson (played by Christopher Plummer) — supporting

  Elise's manager, who predicts she will meet a man who will change her life. He tries to keep Richard away from Elise, has Richard beaten and bound, and tells Elise that Richard has left.

• Laura Roberts (played by Teresa Wright) — supporting

  Elise's former housekeeper and companion. She tells Richard that Elise died the night she gave him the watch and shows him Elise's personal effects, including the time-travel book and music box.

• Arthur Biehl (played by Bill Erwin) — supporting
• Dr. Gerald Finney (played by George Voskovec) — supporting

  Richard's old college professor and author of a book on time travel. He believes he briefly time-traveled through self-suggestion and explains the method to Richard.

• Arthur's Father (played by John Alvin) — supporting
• Older Elise (played by Susan French) — supporting

  The elderly Elise McKenna who approaches Richard at his 1972 play premiere, places an ornate gold pocket watch in his hand, and pleads 'Come back to me.'

• Richard's Date (played by Audrey Bennett) — supporting
• Hotel Manager [Eight Years Later] (played by David Hull) — cameo

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Arthur's Father → Arthur Biehl (father)
• Richard Collier → Richard's Date (Romantic Former Girlfriend) — The breakup forms Richard's immediate emotional starting point before his obsession with Elise.

  Richard is struggling with writer's block after breaking up with his girlfriend before taking the road trip.

• Richard Collier → Dr. Gerald Finney (Professional Former Student) — Finney provides the intellectual explanation that enables Richard's attempt.

  Dr. Finney is Richard's old college professor, and Richard visits him for guidance about the time-travel method.

• Elise McKenna → William Fawcett 'W.F.' Robinson (Professional Manager) — Robinson manages Elise's stage career and tries to control her choice of partner.

  The plot identifies Robinson as Elise's manager, and he attempts to direct her personal and professional future.

• Richard Collier → Older Elise (Temporal Future Love) — Older Elise establishes the time-spanning mystery that leads Richard toward his relationship with Elise.

  In 1972, the elderly woman gives Richard the pocket watch and pleads, "Come back to me." Research later reveals that she is Elise.

• Richard Collier → Elise McKenna (Romantic Love Interest) — Their romance drives Richard's time-travel quest and the film's emotional resolution.

  Richard becomes fascinated by Elise's photograph, travels to 1912 to meet her, and they fall in love, make love, and agree to marry.

Story Dynamics

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

• Richard Collier → Hotel Manager [Eight Years Later] (Social Caretaker) — The manager responds to Richard's physical and emotional collapse near the end.

  The hotel manager finds Richard catatonic in his room and attempts to have him taken to a hospital.

• Laura Roberts → Elise McKenna (Social Former Companion) — Laura preserves knowledge of Elise's final encounter with Richard.

  Laura is identified as Elise's former housekeeper and companion and explains that Elise died the night she gave Richard the watch.

• Richard Collier → Laura Roberts (Social Informant) — Laura helps Richard connect the elderly visitor, Elise, and the objects linked to time travel.

  Richard visits Laura, who was Elise's housekeeper and companion, and receives information about Elise's death and personal effects.

• Richard Collier → William Fawcett 'W.F.' Robinson (Conflict Adversary) — Robinson is the principal human obstacle to Richard and Elise's relationship.

  Robinson orders Richard to leave Elise, has him beaten and bound in the stables, and falsely tells Elise that Richard has left.

Story Analysis

A playwright crosses time to find Elise, briefly achieves their love, and completes a tragic temporal circle.

Plot Progression

1. The Watch Calls Back — Richard receives a mysterious pocket watch from an elderly woman who asks him to return to her. Years later, a photograph of Elise awakens his curiosity and connects the watch to the past.
2. Clues from Elise's Life — Richard investigates Elise through library research and Laura Roberts's testimony. Elise's personal effects, including a time-travel book and music box, transform his fascination into a determined que...
3. Crossing into 1912 — Dr. Finney explains self-suggestion, and Richard prepares a period disguise and currency. After a failed attempt, the 1912 hotel register gives him the confidence to try again.
4. Love Against Prediction — Richard meets Elise and gradually wins her affection while Robinson tries to keep them apart. The theater performance recreates the photograph and intensifies Robinson's opposition.
5. The Penny Ends Time — Richard escapes Robinson, reunites with Elise, and agrees to marry her. A missed 1979 penny breaks the time-travel suggestion, leaving Richard unable to return before his death and reunion with Elise.