Plot
Ray Kinsella, his wife Annie and daughter Karin live on their corn farm in Dyersville, Iowa. Troubled by his broken relationship with his deceased father John, a devoted baseball fan, Ray fears growing old without achieving his dreams.
While walking through his cornfield one evening, Ray hears a voice whispering, "If you build it, he will come"; then has a vision of a baseball diamond in the cornfield with the ghost of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson there. Annie agrees to convert part of their field into a baseball field, at risk of financial hardship.
As Ray builds the field, he tells Karin about the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. Time passes, and as Ray is beginning to doubt himself, Shoeless Joe reappears one evening. After tossing a few balls around the field, Joe asks Ray if he can bring more players and he agrees. The next day, seven more Black Sox players come. Annie's brother Mark cannot see the players, so warns them they are going bankrupt, so offers to buy their land. The voice, meanwhile, urges Ray to "ease his pain."
The Kinsellas attend a PTA meeting, where she successfully prevents the ban of books by Terence Mann, a controversial author and activist from the 1960s. Ray deduces the voice was referring to Mann, who had named one of his characters "John Kinsella" and had once professed a childhood dream of playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. That night, both Ray and Annie have identical dreams about him and Mann attending a game together at Fenway Park, so Ray drives to Boston to find him.
Mann, now a disenchanted recluse, agrees to attend one game. There, Ray hears the voice, urging him to "go the distance", while seeing statistics on the scoreboard for Archie "Moonlight" Graham, who played a single 1922 game for the New York Giants but never got to bat. As Ray and Mann are about to part ways, Mann confesses hearing the voice and seeing the scoreboard.
The pair drive to Chisholm, Minnesota, learning that Graham, who became a physician, had died years earlier. Ray's research uncovers his obituary, showing he was a beloved and charitable doctor, but leaves out baseball. Ray suddenly finds himself in 1972, meeting an elderly Graham, who feels his calling was medicine, not sports, and declines their invitation to the field.
Heading to Iowa, Ray and Mann pick up a young hitchhiker who is looking to join a baseball team. He introduces himself as Archie Graham. Ray reveals his father forced him to play baseball, as he could not. At 14, after reading one of Mann's books, he stopped playing with him. They became estranged after he mocked John, saying "[he] could never respect a man whose hero [Joe] was a criminal."
Ray greatest regret is not reconciling with his father before he died. Mann and Ray agree that the building of the field, and bringing Joe back, is Ray's penance for this estrangement. Arriving at the farm, they see various 1920s all-star players, fielding a second team. A game is played and Graham finally gets to bat.
The next day, Mark returns, demanding Ray sell the farm or the bank will foreclose. Karin insists people will pay to watch the ballgames. Mann agrees, saying that "people will come" to relive their childhood innocence. Ray and Mark scuffle, accidentally knocking Karin off the bleachers. Graham—knowing he will be unable to return after stepping off the field—saves Karin from choking on a hot dog. Now old Doc Graham again, he insists he has no regrets. Heading back toward the cornfield, the other players commended him, and before he disappears, Shoeless Joe calls out, "Hey, rookie! You were good." Doc Graham's eyes shine with tears, he smiles, and goes. Suddenly, Mark can see the players, so urges Ray to keep the farm.
Shoeless Joe invites Mann to enter the corn, who happily accepts. Ray is angry at not being invited but Joe rebukes him, glancing towards the catcher at home plate, saying, "If you build it, he will come." The catcher removes his mask, so Ray recognizes his father as a young man. Ray and Annie then understand that "ease his pain" and "go the distance" both refer to him and his father.
John introduces himself to Ray, thanking him for the field. Ray introduces his father to his wife and daughter as "John". Later, as evening falls, John says goodnight to him and they shake hands. As John is walking towards the cornfield, Ray asks "Dad" if he would like to play catch. John gladly accepts, as a long line of cars is seen approaching the field, fulfilling the prophecy that "people will come" to the field to watch baseball.
